Those Meddling Newbies
by mischief-manager00
Summary: Beckett is assigned to train newbies. But one decides to get her and Castle together. With Lanie and the boys help of course. Mass chaos and devious plans ensue!
1. Chapter 1

**Edited: May 4, 2012. **

**Thank you, LittleLizzieZentara. She helped me with all the edits for this chapter. It's quite shocking the differences between my writing style then, a year ago, and now. **

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><p><strong>Those Meddling Newbies<strong>

**Chapter 1**

"Beckett!" The new captain yelled from his office. Beckett hopped up and walked over to his office.

"Yes, Sir?"

"You don't have a case?"

"No sir." Beckett liked the new captain. He was friendly, a good boss. And he let Castle stay. Beckett knew that was the main reason for liking him, but she would never admit that.

"You're still on restricted field work," He said not looking up from his paper work. "and I don't plan on changing that for a while."

Beckett's face fell, almost comically. "But sir…"

"No, Beckett. You were shot in the stomach. You can't do field work." His tone stern, yet caring, still grated Beckett's nerves.

He almost reminded her of Montgomery. Mentally shaking herself, she hurriedly thought about what her former captain had done.

"Can I go then?" Beckett asked snippily.

"No, not why I call you in." He looked up. "You have the best record in the 12th."

"Yes, sir." Beckett responded automatically. She had become accustomed to people discussing her record and they often were curious less about her team, but more about the famous novelist that worked along side them.

"I want you to train a newbie."

Waves of shock and annoyance rushed through Beckett. Training newbies? That was for cops that were almost retired. Not her, definitely not her. "Really sir?"

"Yes really." He looked at her annoyed expression. "They can be like your assistants. If one doesn't work out, we'll just get a different one," Beckett held back a scoffing cough. He said it as if it would make it all better. "Now go finish your paperwork." He did the shooing hand motion.

Beckett walked out, stalking away exasperatedly, forcing herself not to use one of her usual retorts. She pulled the door roughly behind her and it gave a satisfying slam behind her.

"Beckett, what's up?" Esposito asked, looking up from his paperwork at the slam of the door.

"Captain is having me train people." Beckett said with obvious distaste.

"Oh! Suck's for you!" Ryan received a glare from Esposito. "Right. Doesn't suck for you…" Watching Beckett's deadly glare carefully, Ryan, wisely, chose not to finish his sentence.

"Bro, shut up while you're up." He glared at Ryan again. "Why?"

"Cause I'm not supposed to be doing field work. Probably punishment from last week." Beckett sighed and ran a long fingered hand through her hair.

Esposito nodded slowly. Beckett had gone out in the field last week, shot the suspect and almost got shot her self.

"Ah, it's only a week right?"

"No Ryan it's for however long he chooses."

"Hmm." Esposito thought long and hard looking for a loophole.

"Uggh! When did I become the babysitter? First Castle, now this…." Beckett threw her arms up.

"Well, Detective, if that's how you think of me…" Castle's presence was announced by his mockingly hurt voice, and when Beckett turned, the equally fake hurt expression on his face. "I'll give your coffee to one of these lucky gentlemen." Castle, tauntingly, moved his hand and the coffee cup to the two male detectives. Beckett's eyes narrowed as her usual caffeine fix moved away.

Grabbing her coffee from Castle, a wicked glint in her eyes, she brushed past Castle and whispered in his ear, "Careful now. Don't feed the animals." She continued on her way to the break room. Halfway there, she turned over her shoulder and added, "By the way, Castle, I have to help train newbies."

"Bad?" Castle mouthed.

"Oh yes bro, oh yes." Esposito responded. Castle scurried off to the break room.

Castle appeared at Beckett's elbow, like always. "When does your 2nd shadow get here?"

"I think 10 minutes." Castle raised an eyebrow at her irritation, a look of pure glee scrawled across her face, "This sucks!"

"Could be worse." The previous look of glee was wiped off his face by a sharp glare from the woman standing next to him.

"Really, Castle, Really, how?"

"It could be my evil twin." He smiled evilly.

"Really? I thought you were the evil twin."

"Ouch! Detective! That hurt!" She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Castle. I have paper work." They walked out of the break room.

"Beckett!" The captain yelled from the elevator. "Over here!" She walked over quickly. Castle tried to slink away, but Beckett grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him over.

"Oh no, writer boy. You're coming with me."

Castle mouthed 'help!' to the boys but they were both cracking up at the look on his face. It was one of utter terror.

"Come on Castle. Man up." Beckett hissed as they approached the Captain.

"Beckett, Castle. Meet your new team member. Becca Madison." He said, indicating the tall red head by his side.

The first words out of her mouth were 'This is boring'. Beckett suppressed an eyeroll and a sigh. This was going to work out great, Beckett thought.

"Hello to you too." Beckett smiled grudgingly. "Detective Kate Beckett." She stuck out her hand, but Becca just stared at the hand in disgust.

"Hey, I'm Richard Castle." He waved, trying to break the awkward silence. She stared blankly at him. Castle's face fell absurdly fast; Beckett pressed her lips together to prevent a smile from escaping.

"Okay, I have paperwork… to do… over there." The captain scurried away. As an after thought he yelled over his shoulder, "Have fun!"

"Why don't we go meet the rest of my team," Beckett somewhat ordered through gritted teeth. Becca nodded and stalked off after Beckett who had stormed off. "Ryan! Esposito!"

They snapped up quickly, both yelling. "Yes, Beckett?"

"This is Becca Madison." Beckett introduced sarcastically with a flourish of her arm. "Detective Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito." Becca nodded at Ryan, but smiled wickedly at Esposito. He smiled uncertainly back.

"Hey handsome." Becca purred at Esposito.

"Um—hi?"

"Madison, you'll be here." Beckett pointed to the small desk that had been set up. Becca sat down still staring at Esposito.

The day dragged on, never seeming to end. The bullpen was filled with the scraping of pens against paper, reports for Beckett, Madison and the boys, and Nikki Heat for Castle. Beckett was becoming extremely frustrated with the newbie, who had to have every little thing explain, re explained, and then explained again.

Finally, Beckett said, "Well, time to go." With a groan, she stood up and piled her reports together.

"Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, Old Haunt?" Castle suggested with the ever-familiar waggle of his eyebrows.

"See ya there, bro!" Ryan said. "I'm gonna pick up Jenny." He walked to the elevator and bumped into Lanie who had just arrived, probably to see Esposito, "Hey Lanie."

Back at the bullpen, Becca was moving in on Esposito. Moving in like an extremely clumsy tiger or cheetah. "Hey, hot stuff. Where's this old haunt place?"

"Um no." He scooted away from her. Then she grabbed him around neck and kissed him ferociously. Esposito's eyes widened and he tried to push her away.

Then Lanie yelled, breaking the two apart. "Javi! What the hell is going on?"

Esposito finally broke free, scrambling to get away from Becca.

"Lanie. I didn't I don't…" He trailed off seeing the tears in her eyes. "Chica. Babe, I love you."

"Castle take Esposito to the Old Haunt, we are going to have a little chat.," Beckett whispered to Castle.

"Aw, but I wanna see a chick fight," He moaned like a 9-year old.

"No."

"Video tape."

"No." She raised an eyebrow.

"Come on."

"Castle, I said no."

"But…"

"No." Castle opened his mouth to retort but Beckett cut him off. "You. Take. Esposito. Away. Now." Every time she said a word she poked his shoulder.

"I'm going." He moaned massaging his shoulder. "Esposito, let's go." Castle grabbed his shoulder. "Man, come on. Beckett and Lanie are dealing with it."

"I don't know…"

"Bro, we're gonna watch, then run like hell out of here." Castle grinned devilishly.

"Fine bro. But I'm not gonna arrest Beckett when she kills ya." Writer and cop both took off, not wanting to be in the line of fire when the Lanie-Beckett explosion hit.

"Lanie. I might have to arrest you if you kill her." Beckett mumbled to Lanie.

"I don't want to kill her, just maim or seriously injure her." Then both women turned to the ditsy girl in front of them.

Beckett switched into interrogation mode. "Sit down." Becca sat. "What's your problem?"

"Hmm, what's yours?" She snapped back.

"I'm gonna kill ya." Lanie had lost it. Beckett put a restraining hand on her. "That was my boy."

"So…?" Becca asked dazedly.

"Kate. Can I hit her, now?" Lanie whined.

Meanwhile, Castle and Esposito had decided to tell the captain. "Um, sir. That newbie is having some problems." Esposito said as quickly as possible as he heard Lanie asking to hit her.

"What sort of problems?"

"You might want to see for yourself." Esposito pointed to the girls.

"Ah, I see. Come on time to save her butt." The captain walked out with Castle and Esposito trailing nervously behind. They knew Beckett and Lanie separately were forces to be reckoned with when they were pissed, but together would likely result in very bad things for them.

"I don't know what I did." The red head said blankly. "But I think you two are completely nuts."

"Did she just say what I thought she said?" Castle wondered out loud. Esposito sniggered.

"Ladies! Can we settle this civilly?"

"Well, captain, I was just trying to teach Miss. Madison here about some things that are less then optimal here. She just…"

"Whatever Beckett. I'll get you a new one tomorrow. You four leave. I'll have a quick word with Becca." He shooed them away. Beckett grabbed her coat and they quickly got out of there and into the elevator.

"Castle…." Beckett growled. He gulped.

"Esposito!" He squealed.

"Sorry bro."

"Please, just make sure my mother and Alexis know that I love them." He whimpered. Then Beckett pulled his finger back, hard, until he cried uncle or apples in his case.

"Ok, I'm done."

"Really?" He waved a hand in front of his face. "Oh my god!" He squealed like a 12 year old.

"Don't push it, writer boy…" Lanie warned. The doors dinged open.

"Saved by the ding!" Castle sang happily. Beckett rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Castle booked out of there at record speed. "See you at the Old Haunt!"

"Chica, I'll get the car." Esposito walked out.

"Can I ride with you?" Beckett asked the couple.

"Sure, why?" Esposito nodded as they walked to the parking lot.

"My car broke."

"Hmmm. Girl, what is your problem?"

Beckett cocked her head to one side. "What?"

"Writer boy! Or course."

"Still confused."

"Girl, you are so in love with him!"

"No." Beckett denied quickly.

"See! Ha! You totally like him."

"No, I don't…"

"Hey. We going?" Esposito had pulled up.

"Yeah babe. Kate's coming with us." The drive to the Old Haunt was quick and quiet. They got out quickly and walked into the virtually empty bar. Ryan and Jenny were seated at the bar, while Castle stood behind the bar making drinks.

"Where were you guys?" Ryan asked.

"Just clearing some stuff up." Beckett said, elbowing Esposito who was about to say something. Ryan looked at Esposito imploringly. He mouthed later. "Castle?" He quickly handed her a drink. They all joked around for about an hour then people started to trickle out, until only Castle and Beckett were left.

"So… you have a ride?" Castle asked.

"Nah, I'll just call a cab." She said averting her eyes.

"Hey. I'll take you home."

"NO."

"Sheesh. Fine, still taking you home." He walked around the bar and came up behind her and began tickling her.

"CASTLE!" She kept giggling. "If you don't stop, I will shoot you!" He backed off.

"Well, you're still coming in my car."

"Fine! Just to make you shut up!" Beckett rolled her eyes at the slaphappy grin on her partner's face.

"Yay!" She pinched his arm. "Ow!"

"Are we gonna go? Cause I can think of a million things I would rather be doing right now.

"Alright. Let me just lock up." Castle scurried off to turn off everything. He came back quickly. "Okidokee. Let's go." Beckett walked out as Castle locked the door. "Right this way milady." Castle opened the passenger side door for Beckett. She raised an eyebrow. Beckett got in the car. Castle sprinted around to the other side.

"Just drop me off at my place."

"Kay." Castle started the engine and started to drive. They had been driving for about a minute. "Oh my god! I'm driving! Ha! You never let me drive!" Beckett rolled her eyes again at his childish behavior.

"Whatever, Castle."

"So what do think your next newbie will be like? A vampire? Wizard?"

"Really? How about a normal person?"

"Aw… Beckett. How uncreative!" They continued to argue about who/what would be the newbie. "Oh, it's your place."

"Thanks. See you tomorrow." She hopped out, quickly. Castle drove away and was at his place in 5 minutes. He spent the whole time thinking about one NYPD detective.

When he came home he found Alexis lying on the couch with a physics book. Castle walked over to his little girl and lifted the book off her face. Her eyes were closed and a small smile plastered across her face. "Alexis. Lexs. Sweetie." Her eyes opened slowly.

"Hey dad." She said slowly.

"It's midnight. Why are you still studying?"

"I dunno." Castle smiled at his overly studious daughter and her need to constantly study.

"Hmmm. You work too much." He tapped her nose as he said you.

"Sure."

"Hey. You want to watch something on TV?"

"Dad…."

"No. You have break starting tomorrow so… you can stay up."

Alexis pouted slightly, then smiled. "So what are we watching?"

"Well, you see your most wonderful father got something this morning." He picked up a target bag. He pulled a DVD case out. "I got…. Drum roll, please." Alexis tapped the table. "Phineas and Ferb Season 2."

"Cool. I'll put it in." Alexis stuck the DVD into the player, then ran back and jumped right next to her dad. They both settled in as the credits started.

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><p><strong>I hope you liked it. Please leave a review, it would be greatly appreciated. <strong>

**E **


	2. Chapter 2

**Those Meddling Newbies **

Beckett walked into the 12th dejectedly. A new day, a new newbie.

"Hey boss!" Ryan sang out. "Beautiful day!"

"What's so beautiful about it?"

"Sun's shining, children playing, flowers are blooming." She cut him off with a glare.

"Sunny boy here was planning his wedding." Esposito explained with a nod. "Um, the newbie's in the Capt.'s office waiting for you."

"Excellent." Beckett stalked off. The door to his office was open, Beckett walked in.

"Ah, Detective. We've been waiting." He indicated the man sitting in a chair. "This is Oscar Fenton."

"Hi." He waved slightly; cringing under the stare she was giving him. Beckett studied the man. He was in his mid 20s, with short blonde hair, pale skin, and dull blue eyes.

"Detective Kate Beckett. Why don't we go back and get you set up?" The timid man stood up and quietly followed her out of the office. _Ah, yes! A quiet shadow! _Beckett thought. "Ryan, Esposito, meet Oscar Fenton."

"What's up, bro?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing is up. It is impossible for anything to be up. Thus, it is illogical." Oscar Fenton said quickly. Ryan backed off.

Esposito held out a fist. "Pound it dude."

"Ah yes. I read that it is cusOscarary for males to punch each other's fists to show friendship."

"Um, sure." Esposito looked at Beckett who was holding back a laugh.

"So, Fenton, right here. Your desk." Fenton settled in.

"Thank you." As the morning progressed, Fenton proved to be a quick learner, asking lots of questions and seeming thourghly interested in the work.

"Beckett, where's Castle?" Esposito asked around 10, voicing the question they had all been wondering.

"I don't know…"

"I'm here!" Castle came running in.

"Where were you?" Beckett asked.

"Sorry. I was up really late last night with Alexis. Isabella was about to tell Phineas she loved him, then the rocket fell out of the sky and they broke into song…"

"You and Little Castle were watching Soap Operas?" Ryan asked confused.

"No, of course not. I am offended!" Castle clutched his arms to his chest.

"So then what was it?" Beckett probed.

"Phineas and Ferb!" Beckett raised an eyebrow. "It's amazing! Gotta love Disney."

"Excuse me I'm confused. And that is hard to do as I am a certified genius." Oscar spoke up.

"Don't bother, Fenton." Beckett said. He turned around. "Do not say anything Castle or I will finish breaking the finger." Castle's eyes opened wide and he clutched at his finger.

"Ok! Not even thinking about. So what's in the agenda today?" He said cheerily.

"Well, unless a body drops, nothing really, unless some people were playing games instead of paperwork yesterday." Beckett looked at Ryan and Esposito, who both shook their heads quickly. "Okay, so nothing."

"How fun!" Castle said sarcastically.

"How is this fun? I do not understand." Oscar asked confused.

"Wow, sarcasm does not settle well with you." Esposito commented quietly.

"Dually noted." Oscar said.

"Hmmmmm…" Castle waggled his eyebrows.

"Castle…" Beckett warned.

"What?"

"You know what."

"Sorry, Detective I don't." He grinned wickedly.

"Stop playing stupid." Castle continued to grin. "Oh whoops! I meant stop being stupid." Beckett finished. And she walked off to the break room for more coffee.

"Bro, you just got owned!" Ryan said while high fiving Esposito.

"Excuse me. What should I be doing?" Fenton spoke up.

"Um… Go ask Beckett." Esposito said nervously. Fenton walked off.

"Okay, that guy not going to work." Castle stated. "Too smart."

"How do we make him leave?" Ryan asked.

"Get him to piss off Beckett!" Esposito said excitedly.

"Yes, but something a little quicker."

"Scare him." Ryan volunteered.

"Something along those lines." Castle pondered quietly.

"Castle!" Ryan and Esposito whisper yelled.

"What! Oh! I got it!" He said.

"Complete the sentence bro!" Esposito complained.

"Right. Be illogical. He said it himself that it confuses him." They spent the next 5 minutes planning, until Beckett came back. Castle quickly said. "No, the Vikings suck."

"Guys can we get back to doing something?"

"Beckett, there isn't anything to do!" Ryan complained. "OR I could clean my desk?"

"And I'll help him do that." Espsoito said. Beckett nodded happily and went back to explaining the murder board to Oscar. 10 minutes past in almost scilence, except for Beckett explaining to the 25 year old man.

"Would it be wrong to wish a body would drop?" Esposito wondered aloud.

"Oh yes that would be wonderful!" Castle exclaimed.

"Shut up, Nancy Drew." Beckett snapped.

"Why do you call him Nancy Drew? HE is not a girl and his last name is Castle, correct?" Oscar asked.

"Fenton, Nancy Drew is a fictional female detective who said things like wonderful." Beckett explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I do not understand pop culture."

Another 30 minutes past and it was around 12. "Alrighty, lunch?" Castle stood up stretching.

"I don't care." Beckett said.

"I feel like Indian, but I also don't."

"I don't feel like Indian food, but I do." Ryan added.

"OK, since you two can't decide how about hamburgers?" Beckett said.

"Brilliant Detective!" Castle yelled as he ran to the elevator.

As soon as the doors closed, Ryan and Esposito started phase 2. "I love the vikings." Ryan said with a smile at Esposito.

"Ryan lied to you, Oscar. Everything Ryan says is a lie. Remember that, Oscar. *Everything * he says is a lie." Esposito explained.

"Now I want you to listen very carefully, Oscar. I'm lying." Ryan smirked. Oscar's face twisted in confusion.

"That is illogical. You say everything you say is a lie, but if everything you say is a lie, then you are telling the truth, but you cannot tell the truth because you say you always lie." He trailed off clearly confused. Beckett held back a grin. Castle was going to die.

Then Castle came bounding in. "I have returned." He held a bag of food. Then he set it down and with a straight face punched Beckett in the chest. Not hard, but enough to piss her off.

"Castle…." She warned while she dragged him in to the breakroom.

"Why did he hit her?" Oscar asked.

"Cause he likes her." Esposito said solemnly.

"I can not work here. Please tell the Detective thank you." He grabbed his stuff and ran as fast as possible to the elevator.

Meanwhile in the breakroom, Castle was getting yelled at. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't." He mumbled.

"Exacty!" Castle looked down at his feet. "Do I have to call Alexis?"

"No!" His eyes widened.

"Ok, I won't. But can I have my hamburger, now?" Castle started to walk out when Beckett yelled to him. "Never, ever use Twiddle Dee and Tweddle Dum to undermine me again."

"HEY!" Ryan and Esposito yelled in indignation.

_New one tomorrow!_ Beckett thought.

**A/N: For anyone who cares, I will be publishing at least one for all of my other fics this weekend! REVEIWS! If you favorite this or alert this could you please review! Press small button. **

**A/N2: Does anyone know where I got the logic stuff from? Virtual hugs and cookies if you tell me!**

**E**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Those Meddling Newbies**

Beckett walked in with a coffee in her hand. She was going to need it to deal with another newbie that might possibly, maybe, definitely get scared off quickly. Right now all Beckett wanted to do was nothing. _Maybe I'll organize my desk, and then I don't have to do paperwork. _Beckett walked to her desk sleepily and set her coffee down on the pile of files on her desk. But they weren't there. Her coffee spilled across her desk.

"What the?" Beckett yelled. She checked the rest of her desk, it was completely organized. She glared up at Ryan and Esposito.

"Hey! It was not either of us!" Esposito quickly said.

"Yeah, we told her not to touch your desk." Ryan added. "She didn't listen."

"Who?" Beckett growled.

"Whatever it is I didn't do it." Castle said as he rounded the corner. Esposito and Ryan motioned for him to shut up.

Then a young woman came up behind Castle. "I got coffee!" She said cheerily. Beckett rounded on her.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Lucy Candle." She smiled sweetly at Beckett, who glared in return.

"Did you reorganize my desk?" Beckett managed in a somewhat calm voice.

"Yes! Do you like it?" Beckett took a deep breath.

"Beckett, let's go get coffee." Castle grabbed her and dragged her to the break room.

"Did I do something wrong?" Lucy asked sadly.

"No one ever touches Beckett's desk." Esposito explained.

"Well, Castle does…" Ryan said matter of factly.

"Yes, but that's Castle. And he has a death wish. And he's Castle." Esposito argued. "Whatever just don't touch Beckett's stuff."

Castle and Beckett walked in with coffees in their hands. There was an awkward silence. Then Castle nudged Beckett with his elbow. "Right. We got off on the wrong foot." Beckett forced a smile. "So, Hi. I'm Dective…."

But Lucy cut her off. "Kate Beckett. Yes I know. You're like my hero!" Beckett internally groaned. "I know everything about you."

"Great."

"Hey, Miss Lucy. Rick Castle." Castle held out a big hand. "Professional writer, man-child and shadow. Nice to meet you." Beckett held back a laugh at his description.

"I love your books!" Lucy eagerly shook his hand. "So, what can I do?" She asked, turning to Beckett.

"Um, how about you help Ryan clean his desk?" Beckett said with a slight evil grin.

"What? Boss? Huh?"

"Yeah, Ry. Your desk is looking a little messy." Esposito added.

"This is going to be so much fun." Lucy clapped her hands together. She ran over to his desk and began working. Ryan looked pleadingly at the guys. They both shrugged. He walked dejectedly over to his desk.

A few hours later, Ryan's desk was clean and organized. And complete with Post-it labels, in multiple colors. "Cool, bro." Esposito said with a huge grin.

"Ooo! Detective Esposito, we can do your desk now! Come on let's get started." Lucy skipped over.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

After Lucy cleaned Esposito's desk she asked Beckett what to do every 5 minutes and was grating everyone's nerves. "Hey, Lucy, how about you go get lunch? Burgers?" Castle spoke up.

"Okay!" The others nodded their approval. They all gave her their orders that just happened to be extremely complex. She ran out to get their lunches.

"Oh my god! I thought only you could be that annoying."

"Since when am I e-annoying?" Castle asked, saying annoying oddly.

"Hmm, not sure, at least since I've met you."

"Oh, I thought I was born annoying."

"I pity the nurse that took care of you." Her eyes glinted with a laugh.

Castle opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, closed it and furrowed his eyebrows. His face twisted into a pout.

"Man, I can't take anymore of Lucy. She's just so… argh… I don't even know!" Esposito vented.

"Yeah. Beckett you gotta do something!" Ryan pleaded.

"Okay, I'll go talk to the Captain." Beckett stood up and walked to her bosses' office.

"I take it that Miss Candle isn't working out." He said, pointedly.

"Yes. I mean no she isn't working out." Beckett explained. "She's, I guess you could say overly helpful."

"Okay Beckett. I'll get you a new one tomorrow." He nodded and Beckett left.

While Beckett was talking to the captain, Lucy had come back with their food. Castle gave her some money for it. "Thanks, Lucy. Captain wants to see you." Beckett grabbed her food and settled down at her desk.

"Soooo, how'd it go? Is she gone?" Castle asked eagerly.

"Yep." Beckett smiled.

Lucy ran/ skipped out of the office and squealed, "Bye Everyone. It was a pleasure working with you."

"Detective. You will have a new one tomorrow."

There was a collective groan, but as the captain glared at them they all straighten up.

**A/N: I'm back! I'm going to try and post every few days. But I play sports and have school. So… also I'm going to acknowledge reviewers! So review.**

**A/N2: the name changes were my friends screwing around so sorry.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I am merely borrowing them to fix things I don't like.**

**Those Meddling Newbies **

Beckett walked in to the precinct. She was already cranky. She barley got any sleep because of her neighbor's dog and that gave her a headache and now she has to deal with a newbie. _Yay! This just seems to be my lucky day. _She saw Ryan and Esposito leaning back in their chairs laughing at something. That something was Castle. Who was asleep. On her desk.

Esposito heard the telltale click of her heels and nudged Ryan. They both fell back in their chairs. "Morning Beckett."

"Morning, boss."

"What is Castle doing?"

"Um, sleeping?" Esposito shrugged.

"I meant on my desk." She growled.

"Oh, I dunno." Ryan half smiled.

Beckett walked over and pulled Castle's elbow out from under him. His face hit the desk, hard. "Ow. What? I'm up." His eyes shot open. "Hiya, Beckett."

"What were you doing sleeping on my desk?"

"I have no idea. It seems like a good idea at the time."

Beckett opened her mouth to chide him but was cut off by her phone. "Beckett." She shut the phone.

"Body dropped?"

"Uh huh." Beckett nodded. "I'm going to go talk to the captain." She started to his office, but a voice yelled to her.

"Beckett!" She turned on her heels. The captain was standing by the elevator. "Come here." Beckett walked over. "Ted Jones meet Detective Beckett." A man came out. He was over 6 feet tall and quite, well, well built.

"Hey." He also had a very deep voice. "Ted Jones. Nice to meet you." Beckett stared up at him.

"Detective Kate Beckett. Nice to meet you too." She turned to the captain. "We have a body."

"Ok, go."

"Castle, Ryan, Esposito." They all ran over. "Meet Ted Jones." She gestured at the tall man behind her.

"Hey." Esposito said sticking out his hand. "Detective Javier Esposito."

"Nice to meet you."

"Kevin Ryan." Ted nodded at him. "Detective."

"Castle, Rick, Castle." Beckett twisted his ear. "Apples! Apples!" She let go.

"This is Richard Castle, the writer."

"Derrick Storm, right? Can't believe you killed him off. Though Nikki Heat is hot!" Beckett blushed slightly.

"Hey guys. Are we going to see the body or just stand here?"

"We're going Beckett." Esposito ushered the other two into the elevator. Beckett and Jones followed.

Beckett, Castle and Jones got out of the car. A uniform walked up to Beckett. "Hi Detective, Body's upstairs."

"Thanks." Beckett walked up the stairs with Castle and Jones trailing behind her. They walked into an apartment and found Esposito and Ryan in there.

"Yo Beckett. Body's in the bedroom." Beckett nodded.

"Jones, Castle you coming?" Beckett walked into the bedroom and found a dead guy. The room looked like a blood bomb had exploded or something. "Wow. So, Lanie, how'd he die?"

"From what I can see, I'd say the multiple gunshot wounds to the chest." Lanie indicated the holes.

"Okay." Beckett crouched down. "Jones!" She yelled. "Newbie." She whispered to Lanie.

Jones walked in. "Very tall newbie." Lanie muttered. Beckett nodded.

"This is a crime scene…." She started but he had run out and was throwing up into a trashcan.

"Well, that was… what was that?" Lanie asked as she looked up from the body.

"That is the true meaning of irony." Castle said as he came up behind them. "Whoa this is cool." Beckett elbowed him. "Not cool, totally uncool. On fire in fact." Beckett raised an eybrow. "Not on fire. Okay metaphorically dousing that fire." Beckett raised both her eyebrows. "Make up your mind!"

"Are you two done yet?" Ryan asked sticking his head in the door. "Cause we got a name."

"Yes." Beckett said as Castle said. "No."

**A/N: For anyone who cares, I'm just going to go down my list and this is on the top so I'll be updating a lot. Review. **


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm back! For now. As usual I own nothing. **

**Those Meddling Newbies**

Beckett walked out of the apartment after Lanie wheeled out the body. She pulled out her phone and dialed the Captain's number.

"Captain we need a new newbie. Jones does not take well to blood." Beckett rolled her eyes. "Okay. We're coming back now." She shut the phone.

"New one?" Castle asked a little too cheerfully.

"Yeah. Why are you so happy?" She glared at him.

"I dunno." He shrugged.

"Well we better go back so the Captain doesn't extend my punishment."

They spent the short drive to the precinct discussing the new newbie.

"I'm gonna make a coffee run, you want something?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, usual." She said before walking into the precinct.

"Detective Beckett." The Captain yelled from his office.

"Coming Captain!" She quickly made her way over to his office.

"Meet Olivia Wright." A woman with a short blonde bob stood up and turned to face Beckett.

"Hi!" Her voice was high pitched and irritating. Beckett could feel a headache coming on.

"Hi. Detective Kate Beckett." She stuck out her hand. Olivia took it eagerly. "Come meet the guys."

Beckett led her out of the office. Ryan and Esposito were shuffling through paperwork on Caleb Owen. "Ryan, Espo, meet Olivia Wright."

"Hi! I'm Olivia! I'm so excited to meet you guys! We are going to have so much fun!" Beckett held back a laugh as the guys' eyes widened.

In the background she heard the elevator open. Beckett walked over to Castle as Olivia babbled to Ryan and Esposito.

"How's the new one? Here is your coffee, my highness." He presented her coffee with an exaggerated bow.

"Thanks. And headache inducing."

"Oh fun."

Beckett opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a glass-shattering shriek.

Olivia was yelling, "Oh my god! It's Richard Castle!" Castle's eyes widened as she launched herself at him. "You are like my favorite person like ever!"

"Okay then…"

"I like love you! Isn't like totally awesome that we like are like meeting up? And now I'm going to like be like working with you like everyday!" Olivia was turning into Beckett's worst nightmare.

"Yeah, I guess."

"This is very touching but we actually have to get stuff done." Beckett interrupted.

"Of course!" Her high voice was grating on everyone's ears.

Castle mouthed thank you to Beckett.

"So why did you like kill off Derek Storm? I mean he was like totally like awesome!"

"I wanted to pursue other characters, like Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook."

"Oh I love Nikki Heat. She like so awesome. Those books are like the reason why I like wanted to be like a detective."

"Castle, break room, we need to talk." Beckett said shortly.

"Coming!" Castle followed her eagerly.

"We have to get rid of her!" Beckett said as soon as the door snapped shut behind them.

"Agreed. But doesn't feel good that you inspire people!"

"Not bimbos like her."

"Is she a bimbo because she says like all the time or because she loves my books? Because that would make you a bimbo as well. I know you are so in love with my books!" Castle grinned happily. Beckett rolled her eyes.

"We just have to get rid of her." Beckett exclaimed angrily.

"Just go ask the Captain to get a new one."

Beckett stormed out and walked over to his office. "Captain?"

"Yes, come in."

"Olivia is not working out." Beckett said plain and simple.

"Was she the one who was screamed earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Wait until 12 and then we can talk again, but you need to give her a chance." He said sagely.

Beckett took a few deep breathes before saying, "Yes sir."

"Beckett! Lanie needs to see you!" Esposito yelled as Beckett exited the office.

"Okay. Come on Olivia." Olivia bounded out of her seat and Castle trailed behind them not wanting to talk to Olivia any more.

"So where are we like going?"

"Autopsy."

"Are you like Nikki like Heat?"

"No. My name is Kate Beckett."

"But you're like exactly like her."

"Look, Olivia, I base the Nikki Heat books on what happens with Detective Beckett and her team." Castle interjected.

"Oh, so like she like your muse." Beckett smirked, _She found a brain cell._

"Yeah." Castle nodded.

Beckett pushed open the doors of autopsy. "Hey Lanie."

"Hey girly. Who's this?" She asked leaning over to look at Olivia.

"Lanie meet Olivia Wright. Olivia meet Lanie Parish, our ME."

"Hi! It's like nice to like meet you!" Her shrill voice trilled through the enclosed space.

"Yeah, same." Lanie said warily. "Anyway… so your boy here was shot by 2 different guns."

"Multiple shooters?" Beckett asked.

"Possibly. But one was used to kill him and the other most likely to make sure he was dead."

"Oh, so that's why there was so much blood." Castle grinned happy with his conclusion.

"Wow! You are like so like smart!"

Lanie and Beckett shared an aggravated glance.

"Uh huh, he's the new Einstein. Now back up to the murder. Thanks Lanie." Beckett grabbed Castle's arm and dragged him out of the room with Olivia trailing at their heels.

The next 45 minutes passed painfully slow. Beckett, Castle, Ryan and Esposito tried to work on their case. But Olivia was trying to talk to Castle and Beckett about Nikki Heat.

When the clock hit 12, everyone was ready to start screaming.

"Excuse me, Olivia. I don't think that you are the right fit here. So you will be reassigned tomorrow. Please just go home and you will receive further instruction tonight." The Captain said from his office.

"What… what? No! Don't like make me like leave!" She screamed, her high voice reverberating around the precinct.

"I'm sorry it's for the best." The Captain said. "Do we need to have two officers escort you out?"

"No." Olivia stalked off to the elevator. But it was coming up, so she stood there for an awkward 30 seconds before leaving.

"So sir, am I done?" Beckett asked hopefully.

"No. I have one more that I think will be a good fit. If she doesn't work out then you will be done."

He left and walked back to his office.

As soon as the door shut, Ryan and Esposito began doing a ridiculous dance.

"Guys, stop it. You look like knuckleheads." Beckett said with an eye roll.

**Review. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Those Meddling Newbie's: Chapter 6**

Beckett pressed her head to her desk in frustration. Christian Griffs was a ghost. No one knew him, family dead, only child, social awkward. So they had nothing.

"Beckett?" The Captain asked. Beckett looked up, a blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"Yes?" She said groggily.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just thinking." She mentally groaned knowing what was next. New newbie. _But it's the last one… _A voice in her head said hopefully. "So how can I help you?" She asked pushing her hair away from her face.

"If you could please come to my office, there's someone I want you to meet." The Captain smiled quickly, before returning to his office.

Esposito, Ryan and Castle gave her a sympathetic look before returning to their ridiculous thoughts on Christian Griffs. Beckett stood up and pulled her mouth into a friendly smile.

She knocked on the open door then walked in.

"Okay, Detective Beckett, this is Annie Wellington. Annie this is Detective Kate Beckett." The Captain pointed to a girl sitting in a chair.

"Hiya, Annie Wellington." The girl stood up. Beckett studied her closely. Annie had gold, straight hair that flipped on the ends. Her eyes were studying Beckett as well.

"Nice to meet you Annie, Beckett." Beckett stuck out her hand tentatively.

Annie seemed pretty normal compared to others. _Thank God! _

"Well, ladies. I have a meeting with the mayor. So Detective, I assume you can take it from here."

"Yes, Captain." Beckett nodded. "Well, Annie, I'll introduce you to the others."

Annie followed Beckett out of the office and into the squad room.

"Guys!" Beckett beckoned and all three came running. "Okay this is Annie Wellington. Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan. And then my partner Richard Castle."

"Nice to meet you guys." Annie smiled kindly at them. "Aren't you that writer?" She asked Castle.

"Yes, yes I am. Castle, Rick Castle at your service." He said with a small bow.

"Cut it out Castle." Beckett glared at him.

"Cutting it out."

"So have you read any of my books?" Beckett smacked Castle arm.

Ryan and Esposito both broke into fits of coughs containing the word, "Ego."

"Nope." Annie grinned at Castle's face. "I prefer Agatha Christie and Harry Potter."

"Oh if I'm losing out to Christie I'm fine. But a scrawny boy with glasses?"

Beckett phone started buzzing. "Hey Lanie. Okay we'll be right down." She shut it and turned to Castle and Annie. "Come on Lanie's got something."

"Lanie?" Annie asked as she followed Castle and Beckett to the elevator.

"Dr. Lanie Parish, ME." Beckett explained.

"Ah." The doors slid closed behind Annie.

Castle started whistling some tuneless song unless Beckett twisted his finger. "Apples!" Annie raised an eyebrow at the pair, but said nothing. "Apples is my safe word."

The doors slid open to the autopsy room. "Hey girly and Writer boy." Lanie glanced up. "Who's this?" She looked at Annie.

"Oh, Lanie, this is Annie Wellington. Annie this is Lanie."

"Hi, so you're an ME?"

"Yep. And you're the new newbie?" Annie nodded.

"What do you have Lanie?"

"See this bruises? They were caused post mortem, as if his body was moved. And look at this." She indicated the slash mark across his neck. "This happened first, but because of all the blood we couldn't see it until now."

"So Griffs was sliced then shot?" Lanie nodded.

"Who did you piss off?" Castle mused.

"No one I want to meet." Lanie shook her head.

"Well, then it's a good thing that it's my job."

"Our job." Castle corrected.

"Castle, your job involves a pen and paper. Not a gun." Beckett pointed out.

"How many times have I saved your life?" Castle asked as they walked towards the elevator.

"What's their deal?" Annie asked Lanie. Lanie shook her head with a smirk.

**A/N: I'm sorry this is late. I've been working on it for a while, but I haven't been completely happy with and still feel a little iffy. So please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Those Meddling Newbies**

**Chapter 7**

* * *

><p>All 5 leaned against the desks and stared at the murder board.<p>

"What about... no." Ryan said, then shook his head.

"Maybe." Esposito started. "Makes no sense."

"Castle?" Beckett asked pleadingly.

"A spy maybe." Castle offered meekly.

"And he was a percussionist for a cover?" Beckett said doubtfully.

"He was a percussionist?" Annie asked.

"Yeah. What?" Beckett turned to her.

"Well, my brother went through this phase where he was really into drums. The walls were really thin. And we all almost killed him."

"The neighbors! Ryan, Espo run background checks on the neighbors." Beckett ordered. They scrambled over to their computers. "Good job, Annie." Beckett offered her a smiled.

Castle scowled slightly as he sat down. Beckett patted him gently on the arm. "I'm supposed to come up with crazy theories." He pouted.

"I would agree. But Annie's theory isn't exactly what I'd call crazy."

"Fine." Castle frowned a bit.

Annie raised her eyebrows at the interaction between the two.

She walked over to Ryan and Esposito. "Is that normal for them?"

"Yeah. On the lighter end." Ryan said not looking up as he tapped away at his keyboard.

"Lighter end?" She asked shocked.

"Oh yeah. They do this thing when they're theorizing and they get really pumped up and get closer and closer. Then duck away blushing. And that's just the tip of the iceberg." Esposito shook his head.

"If you two are done gossiping, I got something." Ryan said snippily.

"What?" Annie asked.

"Yo boss! We got something." Esposito yelled.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Ryan said hotly.

"Yeah, Popo." Annie said tauntingly. "I came up with the theory and Ryan did the research."

"Popo?" Esposito asked.

"It's shorter then Es-po-sit-o." Annie stretched his name out.

"I like it." Castle grinned.

"So Ryan?" Beckett asked. She had been suppressing a grin.

"Oh right. So it turns out that one of our neighbors has connections with the wrong sort of people. The kinda people that own the murder weapons." Ryan explained as he showed them the picture.

"Wow. So Griffs was killed because he was being loud. That's a new level of cold." Castle said.

"Okay. Let's go get this SOB." Beckett said.

:::::::

Beckett pounded on the door of the abutting apartment. "NYPD. Mr. Yew, we need to talk to you."

There was the muffled sound of voices inside. Beckett knocked again. "NYPD. Open up."

The door opened a crack. "Yes?" A burly man asked.

"NYPD." Beckett flashed her badge. Yew's eyes twitched nervously. "Can you please let us in? We have some questions."

"Um, can you come back later? I have company right now."

Annie leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. "It wouldn't happen to be Mr. Lee and Mr. Furey."

"Um yes. Why?"

"We need to talk to them too." Beckett said sternly.

"Carl just let em in." A voice yelled from inside.

"Please come in." Yew opened the door to allow all three in.

He led them to a couch where two men were siting.

"Wow. They need three detectives to ask us questions." One of the men said. It was Jeremy Furey.

"I'm Detective Beckett. This is my partner, Rick Castle and my er, trainee, Annie Wellington. We have some questions about your neighbor, Mr. Griffs."

"Well, he was Carl's neighbor. Not ours. So we'll just be off." Lee stood up and moved to leave but Castle stepped in front of him.

"Actually we need to take you three in for questioning." Beckett said.

Lee and Furey glanced at each other then ran. Lee pushed past Castle and ran towards the door. Furey dove for the window and the fire escape. Yew stood there not really focused.

Annie, who was standing by the door, stuck out her foot and sent Lee flying. Into the very solid wood door. "That's gonna hurt in the morning."

Beckett and Castle were following Furey out the window. Annie walked over and cuffed Yew, still standing confusedly in the middle of the room. She glanced over at Lee. He was out cold and didn't look like he was moving anytime soon.

Annie walked over to te window after she heard a scuffle. Beckett was walking Furey out of the alley, his arms secured firmly behind his back.

"Okay, dude. Come on." Annie pressed a hand into Yew and forced him down the stairs. "Here you go." Yew was passed to a uniform who stuck him in to a squad car. "Lee's upstairs. He might have a small headache." She told one of the officers. He nodded and headed back to the building.

Beckett was leading Furey to the car. The uniform stuck him in the back with Yew. "Thanks." She gave him a small smile. "Annie, where's Lee?"

"He, uh, ran into the door." Annie said. "And I couldn't lift him. So the other officer's getting him."

"Okay. Good job." Annie grinned widely at the praise.

The car ride was pretty quiet expect for Castle's mumblings about there always being a fire escape. "What do criminals buy apartments based on wether or not there's a fire escape? And so they always have to jump down them? I grew up in the city. I didn't climb trees."

He was shut up by Beckett's curt statement, "Course you didn't." Which he stuck his tongue out at.

::::::::

Annie stood with Ryan and Esposito behind the glass of interrogation room 2. Beckett and Castle were questioning Lee and Furey.

But the three behind the glass were not paying much attention as Yew had confessed already.

Annie was explaining why Lee had an every growing lump on his forehead. "-and he just thudded into the door and didn't get up." Ryan and Esposito both let out hearty laughs. "It worked with my brothers."

"Good one, Shrimp." Esposito choked out.

"Shrimp?" Annie arched her eyebrows.

"Why not? You're the shortest of us all." Esposito shrugged.

"Be nice, guys." Beckett voice surprised them all. "They're lawyering up. Were you guys paying attention?"

"I was trying to. But they were distracting me." Annie said innocently.

"You two should be better examples." Beckett said mock- sternly. She and Castle left the room.

"You got us in trouble." Ryan whined.

"I'm the shortest and the youngest." Annie shrugged before ducking out of the room. Esposito and Ryan followed sulkily.

"Totally unfair." Esposito moaned.

Beckett and Castle were standing in the Captains office.

"Case closed, I presume." He said.

"Yes."

"Annie working out? I haven't heard any screams." He grinned.

"Yes. I think she'll work out. She fits very well with the team. And she helped us solve the case." Beckett said happily.

"Excellent. Why don't all of you take the rest of the night off in celebration." He ordered.

"Okay. Thank you sir." Beckett thanked him before exciting the office.

"Guys, we have the rest of the night off." Beckett announced as they walked into the bull pen.

"I vote Old Haunt." Esposito said.

"I second that." Castle said.

"If there's food and alcohol I'm in." Annie piped up.

"Beckett?" Ryan asked.

"Fine. One of you should call Lanie." Beckett said.

"On it." Esposito said, a little too eagerly.

::::::

The small team was sitting comfortably in a large circular booth in the back.

"I propose a game." Castle said, his grin spreading slowly across his face.

"Castle, I am not getting drunk." Beckett exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Not that kind of game. But that would be fun..." His musings were cut short by a smack to his arm. "I was thinking more like a get to know you thing."

"What are we, in kindergarten?" Ryan asked.

"Fine we'll make it more interesting. I'll go get my m'n'ms." Castle stood up and ducked behind the bar and came up grinning with a brown bag of m'n'ms.

He walked back over and tossed the bag down on the table.

"Okay. So we'll all start with 10. Then someone will choose a subject. We'll all say our answers and some may be true and some may be false. If someone thinks they are lying they say BS. If they're right the person they were doubting gives them an m'n'm, if not thy lose an m'n'm. And if we all said something true we all get another m'n'm."

"Okay." Esposito and Ryan nodded.

"Fine, but no funny business writer boy." Lanie narrowed her eyes at him.

"Writer man. Lanie. Man."

"Castle you're just nervous cause you know we're gonna kill you." Beckett teased.

"Isn't this just a weird game of BS?" Annie pointed out.

"Yeah." Castle said. "So let's play." He dealt out the m'n'ms happily. "I'll choose the first category. Hmmmm... middle names." He turned to Ryan who was sitting on his left.

"Um, Seamus."

"I believe you bro," Esposito nodded. "Felipe." He turned expectantly to Lanie.

"Scarlette."

"Eleanor."

Castle looked expectantly at Beckett. "Alexandra."

"And my two middle names, Edgar and Alexander. Ah, Beckett we match."

The other four shared a grin that went unnoticed by the others.

"Was everyone telling the truth?" They all nodded. "M'n'ms for all." Everyone reached in a grabbed another m'n'm. "Ryan..."

"Favorite color." He said.

"Blue."

"BS." Beckett smirked at Esposito.

"Damn it. How?"

"You were droning on and on about how much the blue walls at your apartment bug you." Beckett said as she reached in for a m'n'm.

"Pink." Lanie glared at them all, daring them to doubt her.

"Um, let me think about that. Er, orange."

"BS." Castle said confidently.

"Nope." Annie smirked. "Fork it over."

Castle pouted a bit.

"Green." Beckett went unchallenged.

"Razzmatazz purple." Castle said proudly.

"Okay then, bro. I like yellow."

"Ah, since Esposito lied. No bonus for us." Castle sighed dramaticly. "Esposito your turn."

"Sibilings."

"Okay. I have 2 older sisters and 1 younger brother." Lanie's right eye twitched slightly.

"BS." Esposito cried. "You have 2 older sisters and 1 younger sister." Lanie responded by throwing the m'n'm at Esposito. "Hey! Beckett." He whined.

"Deal with it." Lanie snapped. "Annie, it's your turn." She stuck her tongue out at Esposito.

"Okay. I have an older brother who's 4 years older then me, he's a SEAL. Then I have another brother who's a marine, he's 3 years older then me. And then I have another older brother who's a war corespondent." Annie smiled broadly.

Everyone stared at her with wide eyes.

"Wow. Okay. I'm an only child." Beckett declared.

"Ha. Same." Castle grinned.

"I have an older sister and an older brother." Ryan shrugged.

"I've got 1 younger brother."

"BS. You have a younger sister too." Ryan slid his hand under Esposito's arm and grabbed a m'n'm. "Ha!"

"No extra's for us. Cause Espalanie lied. Lanie."

"Oh. First kiss. Who, where, when? Details." She said cheerfully.

"Jake Zimmerman. 9th grade. On my porch. Until my dad came out with one of his guns." Annie shrugged.

"Did she say guns as in plural?" Asked Castle.

"Yes. She did." Annie replied cheekily.

"Does spin the bottle count?" Beckett asked.

"No."

"Okay then. Sam Gage. In 9th grade at a party."

"Grunge rocker?" Castle asked.

"No. What's your obsession with him?" Beckett raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just curious." He gave a noncommittal shrug. "Annika Liske Summer before 8th grade. Behind the pool."

"Starting young." Lanie giggled.

"Denise Burke. 9th grade. On her front step coming home from homecoming." Ryan said shyly.

"Rose Garcia. 7th grade. In a movie theatre." Esposito grinned.

"Liam Carolyn. 8th grade. At a school dance."

"No lies?" Castle glanced around. "Excellent." Everyone raked in their extra m'n'm. "Annie?"

"Hmmmm... full names."

"Katherine Alexandra Beckett."

"Richard Alexander Rodgers. And Richard Edgar Castle." The guys shook their heads at his double name.

"Kevin Seamus Ryan."

"Javier Felipe Esposito."

"Lanie Scarlett Parish."

"BS." Castle said.

"Fine. It's Lanelle Scarlett Parish." Lanie forked over her m'n'm.

"Dr Parish, I do believe you need to work on your deception skills." Castle shit-eating grin made Lanie's eye twitch. She glanced at Beckett who slugged him in the arm. "Ow!"

"Guys?" Annie asked before continuing. "Annie Eleanor Wellington."

"BS." Esposito yelled. The sound echoed through the empty bar.

"You are right. My full name is Anne Eleanor Wellington." Annie threw her m'n'm at Esposito.

"Beckett. Annie threw an m'n'm at me." Esposito whined.

"No I didn't." Annie smiled innocently. She yawned widely.

"Why would Annie lie to me?" Beckett said sweetly. Esposito gaped. She glanced down at her watch. "Oh, it's 11:45."

"I think I'm gonna head home." Annie said, stifling another yawn.

"Yeah. I should probably go to. Alexis will be wondering." Castle and Beckett stood up and the rest followed suit.

Annie was rubbing sleep out of her eyes. "That was really fun." She smiled.

Ryan led the way out. Saying something about Jenny before he walked to his car and left.

"How are you already the favorite?" Esposito hissed at Annie. "Mom and Dad favor you already."

"Popo. I have 3 older brothers. I've had a lot of practice." She grinned mischievously.

"Aw. They're leaving together." Lanie said as Beckett and Castle drove off in Beckett's car.

"Are they? You know..." Annie asked.

"Together. No. Sadly." Lanie sighed.

"Hm. That's strange very strange."

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you liked it. I spent basically 3 hours writing his for you guys. So reviews would be appreciated. I was really trying to get back to that Castle family thing from past seasons. <strong>

**I'be started doing questions for reviews so here's this chapters: Esplanie, Caskett or Kenny?**

**E**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay so here's the plan, for those who are reading my other Castle story Down They Fall, I'll update this for 2-3 days, then the other for 2-3 days. Just so I'll stay on track. That's ay ramblings for now. **

* * *

><p><strong>Those Meddling Newbies<strong>

**Chapter 8**

Annie walked into the precinct and hurried over to her desk.

"Hey Annie." Beckett said not looking up from her paper work.

"Hiya Beckett. Sorry I'm late. I over slept." She explained quickly.

Ryan and Esposito choose that moment to return from their coffee break. "Look who decided to show up?" Ryan said with a ridiculous grin on his face.

"Oh it's Shrimp." Esposito smirked at Annie.

"Morning Popo. Ryan." She nodded at both.

"You know it's frowned upon to be late, right?" Esposito asked.

"Yes."

"Yeah they really don't like it." Ryan continued.

"Good for them. Whoever that is." Annie muttered.

"Oh, it looks like Shrimps got a short temper." Esposito gave her another evil grin.

"Short temper, short girl equals Short Stack." Ryan laughed.

"Pancakes?" Castle asked loudly as he made his appearance known. "Where?"

"There arent any pancakes. And you two lay off Annie." Beckett said sternly.

"So what does this have to do with short stacks?" Castle asked.

"The guys were trying to come up with a nickname for Annie."

"Sweet." Castle rushed over to the boys, who were pulling out a pencil and paper.

Annie walked over to Beckett.

"Sorry about that. Normally they're better behaved." Beckett smiled at Annie.

"So what do you want me to work on?" Annie asked.

"We just have paper work unless a body drops." Beckett shrugged. "So that pile on your desk is yours. I would advise getting it done now, rather then later like those knuckleheads." She raised her voice at the last part.

"What? This is work related, boss." Ryan said in indignation.

"Yeah. We're talking about Annie and she works with us so technically we're working." Esposito said confidently.

Castle and Ryan put their hands out to feed the birds.

Beckett and Annie rolled their eyes.

"Are they always like this?" Annie asked.

"Yes. It's even worse right now because you're like the shiny new toy that they all want to play with." Beckett rolled her eyes again. "It's ridiculous."

Annie and Beckett worked diligently on their paperwork while the guys worked on their nicknames.

Suddenly, all three stood up and walked over to Annie's desk. Esposito handed Castle the paper. "Okay here's our list." Beckett walked over and leaned against the side of her desk. "Shrimp, Short Stuff, Hobbit-"

"Hey! I'm not that short." She protested.

"True, but you're shorter then he rest of us." Ryan shrugged.

"Moving on." Castle continued, "AnnaBanana, Ni, Nini, and finally, drumroll please." The guys rapped their knuckles on a desk. "Annie-boo." All three had sickeningly satisfied smirks on their faces.

"Great. You guys are so creative." Annie said with an eye roll.

"Guys I got one for you. Traffic." Beckett said. "That's what you're gonna be called if you don't start working. Annie, could you bring this file down to Lanie?" Beckett handed Annie a file. The guys shuffled back to their desks in defeat.

"Yeah, sure." Annie stood up and turned towards the elevator.

"See ya, AnnaBanana!" Castle yelled.

"Bye, PoPo, Lucky and What's our face." She called over he shoulder.

"Lucky? Lucky?" Ryan shrieked.

"How does she not remember my name?" Castle cried.

"Oh get over it." Beckett said as she did her paperwork.

:::::::::::::

"Lanie?" Annie asked as she walked into the morgue.

"Over here." Lanie yelled.

"Beckett sent this." Annie handed her the file.

"Thanks." Lanie smiled.

"So Beckett and Castle..."

"They love each other, but they both have a lot of baggage." Lanie gave her the cliff notes version.

"Why don't we help them out then?" Annie suggested.

"Girl, you are brilliant. Meet me at here. I'll write it down." Lanie scribbled down an address and passed the paper to Annie.

"Okay. Sounds good." Annie glanced at the address and time Lanie had jotted down before shoving in her jean pocket. "I better get going. See you tonight."

**So how wasfit? I promise that we're getting to the good stuff soon. Just gotta build up the momentum. Does anyone have any nickname ideas? Cause I would love them! Is anyone else watching the Mark Madness Marathon? It's so nice to see good NCIS again. I'm happily chilling watching it and writing it with my new puppy! Wow, I'm really rambling. Ah well! **

**Please review! With sugar on top!**

**E**


	9. Chapter 9

**Those Meddling Newbies **

**Chapter 9**

* * *

><p>Lanie was sitting at a table, swirling her straw around her drink.<p>

"Hey Lanie." Annie came up behind her.

Lanie turned and placed a hand on her chest. "Girl, you scared me!"

"Sorry." Annie apologized as she sat down across from Lanie. "So what's the full story on Castle and Beckett? I know I got the abbreviated version earlier today."

Lanie nodded and began to explain. From how they met to the Hamptons to Johanna Beckett to their first kiss to Beckett getting shot.

"Wow. I'm torn between relationship from hell and perfect for each other." Annie said in mild shock.

"Um, excuse me. Are two ready to order?" A pimply teenaged waiter asked timidly.

"Yes. I'll have the ranch chicken wrap with a house salad. And a side of fries." Lanie said.

The kid turned to Annie. "I'll have the patty melt with fries."

"Anything to drink?"

"Yes. I'll have a coca cola."

"Excellent. I'll be back with those shortly." He turned on heel and walked back to the kitchen.

Lanie shifted her focus to Annie. "How do we get them together?"

"Hmmmmm... not entirely sure."

"We could send them both letters from secret admirers. Both have this lovely shade of green that they turn." Lanie smiled deviously.

"Good. Good." Annie was rummaging around her bag and came up with a pen and a note pad. She quickly wrote out Lanie's idea. "What else?"

"We could lock them in the break room."

"Or me and my brother Indy did this thing for one of my other brothers and his best friend. They were seriously in love and similarly wouldn't admit it. So we started a prank war against them and all the pranks put them in awkward position. And it totally worked." Annie grinned, "Now they're married. And think that we were just messing around. We just don't have the heart to tell them. "

"You are brilliant. But I think we should start with the letters so they're already edgy with each other." Lanie reasoned.

"Or what the elevator accidentally broke with them in it." Annie smirked. "We could get Ryan and Esposito to help."

"Perfect. Then let the war begin." Lanie rubbed her hands together.

"Sweet. We just have to get Ryan and Esposito in on this. And it will be perfect."

"Excuse me." Their waiter was back with their food. "Here you two go."

They both chimed back, "Thanks."

After they got over the first 'oh my god I'm starving' moment they began to talk. Mainly Lanie questioned Annie.

"So why'd you become a cop?"

"My brothers were in the military. As was my dad so it was kinda expected that I do that as well. I didn't really want to. So I figured being a cop was a good choice. And I went to NYU. And I loved this city so I stayed."

"No tragic backstory?"

"No. Though my dog got hit by a car once, but he was okay." Annie shrugged. "That's it. Why?"

"Oh, it just seems like a lot of tragic back stories. So you have three brothers?"

"Yep. Isaac's the oldest. He's a SEAL. Then Ian. He's 3 years older. He's a marine. He's be one who we had the prank war with. And Indiana, who goes by Indy is 2 years older then me. Right now I think he's in Iraq. He's a war corespondent." She said proudly. "And we're military brats so they were all pretty into joining."

"Hmm, bringing boys home must have been horrible. And now you've got Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum. And writer boy. Mmmhh, you should've seen them this one time Beckett's boyfriend came to the station and she wasn't there. Javi and Kev grilled the dude." She laughed at the memory. "So how long are you helping KB?"

"No clue. Until I make Detective I guess. Are the Nikki Heat books really based on Beckett?"

"Yep."

"Wow. I've never read any of Castle's books, but that's pretty cool."

"I would expect that Nikki Heat might have another sidekick in his next book if you know what I mean." She smirked at Annie. "So any guys in your life?"

"Yeah. His name's Derek. He's a psychical trainer." Annie said with a giggle.

"Ooo, honey. He sound smoking."

They spent the rest of the dinner discussing gossip at the 12th, exes, and family.

"Thanks for this. It's good to know what's going on."

"Anytime, honey, anytime."

**Desision time! Do you guys want me to have the plan in action in this story or in a separate one? Leave a note or PM if you please. Do you like their plan?**

**E**


	10. Chapter 10

**Those Meddling Newbies**

**Chapter 10**

Lanie leaned over the body, a woman with a melon sized hole in the back of her head. CSI was bustling around her gathering the remnants of the office.

"Lanie, what do you have?" Beckett squatted next to her.

"Hello to you too." Beckett looked at her imploringly. "White, female, mid to late 20s. Gunshot wound to the forehead. No burn mark. So I'd assume that it was done from over there." Lanie threw her hand out to the entrance of the office where a uniform was standing.

"Yo Beckett! The building has security tapes in the entrance." Ryan yelled.

"Okay, go get it then."

"I have it." Annie walked in with the tapes in her hand. "Popo told Ryan to get them and then he told me to get them. And here they are."

'Popo?' Lanie mouthed to Beckett.

"Shrimp, if you call me Popo another time… I swear I'm gonna…." Esposito stormed in.

"You're gonna what?" Annie smirked.

"Yeah, Espo, what are you going to do to Annie?" Beckett straighten up. The smirk was evident on her face.

"Javi?" Lanie asked with a wicked grin.

"I'm…uh…" His eyes darted to all three women, and then to his partner, who was busy taking a statement. "I'm… uh…"

"Spit it out, Popo." Lanie said innocently.

"I'm gonna hug her!" Esposito wrapped Annie in a bone-crushing hug and lifted her up and spun her around.

"Whoa! Is it national hug day?" Castle appeared smiling widely in the door. Then he began lumbering towards Beckett.

"One more step Writer Boy, I dare you." Beckett said dangerously.

Esposito released Annie and she stumbled away. She tripped forward and crashed into Castle, who in turn crashed into Beckett. Luckily they missed the dead body, but Castle pinned Beckett down.

Both were breathing heavily. Castle grinned at Beckett, while she rolled her eyes.

"So Beckett…."

"Castle, get off me." Beckett hissed.

Lanie and Annie were holding back peals of laughter. Their eyes kept meeting then glancing away to hold back the laughter. Esposito was mildly amused judging by the expression on his face. He reached out his hand and fist bumped Annie.

"Castle off."

Castle stood up and reached out a hand to Beckett, who hastily grabbed it and pulled herself up. They stood there awkwardly brushing imaginary dust off their clothing. Lanie, Annie and Esposito were watching them with identical smug grins plastered across their faces.

"Sorry 'bout that Beckett. Annie fell into me."

"Actually it's Popo's fault. He picked me up and spun me, which caused me to fall into Castle." Annie pointed out.

"Oh, got to go. It's my publisher." Castle pulled his phone up to his ear. "Hi Gina." Castle strolled out of the office, leaving Beckett with a sad look on her face and Annie and Lanie with frustrated looks on theirs.

"Girl…." Lanie started.

"Not in front of the children." Beckett moved her head towards the two boys. Annie raised her eyebrows at Beckett. Glancing at the two, Beckett sighed. "Later."

"Mmmmmhhhhhmmmm." Lanie shook her head at her.

"So any idea on who are Vic is?" In an attempt to shift the focus, Beckett quickly asked.

"No. Wallet's gone." Lanie squatted down again.

"Ryan, who does this office belong to?" Beckett turned to the Irish man.

"Quentin Jordan. He's over there." Ryan jerked his thumb to a small, sniveling man standing in the doorway.

A shy, unobtrusive man, Quentin Jordan was finding this whole affair rather distressing.

"Hi, I'm Detective Beckett. This is Annie Wellington." Beckett smiled at the man.

He opened his mouth but no sound came out. He tried again, "He-he-hello, Detect-iv-ive. M-m-m-Ms. We-we-well-ing-ing-t-t-ton."

"Do you have any idea who the woman is?"

"N-n-no." Quentin stuttered. "I-I-I ha-have n-n-no idea." The last word was spat out in a hurry.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I-I'm an-an acc-cc-cou-count-tt-tant. Wh-wh-y d-d-id th-th-th-e-ey tr-ra-ash-."

"It may have been in the struggle. But nothing is definitive."

"O-o-oh-k-k-k-a-ay."

"We'll be in contact." Beckett turned and walked away. Annie followed quickly and fell in to step with her.

"Are we going to have to talk to him again?" Annie asked.

"Hopefully not."

"G-g-g-oo-oo-d." Beckett sent her a stern look, but struggled to hide a peek of a smile.

"Be nice." Annie snorted slightly.

"I'll try."

"Ryan, Esposito help CSU go through the files. Get Quentin to check."

"What the stutterer?" Ryan's eyes widened. "No, I thought you liked us." He pleaded.

"Talk to Esposito or as he now goes by, Popo." Beckett smirked as they walked away.

"Dude! What did you do?" Ryan's voice was an octave higher than normal.

"Nothing." Esposito said. Then they heard something about hugging and spinning.

::::::::

"Okay, Annie, this is the murder board." Beckett presented the white board with a slight wave of her arms. "We comply all of the info from the case on here. You saw the completed one for the Griffs case. So could you run down to Lanie and get the pictures she took?"

"Yep. Back in a few." With a swoosh of hair; Annie made her way towards the elevator. The metal doors pulled apart and Annie rushed in. But she met a large broad chest. Annie stumbled back. "Oh hi Castle."

"You need to stop running into me or…"

"You and Esposito really need to work on your 'or else's'."

"I'll have you know that I am quite accomplished at writing or else scenes."

Annie slipped into the elevator and turned to face Castle, her viridescent eyes flashing. "Key word writing." The door's slid closed over Castle's imitation of a fish.

Annie tapped her fingers against her arm.

The doors slid open and Annie left the steely box.

"Hey Lanie."

"Annie! You have got to stop sneaking up on me. Get some heels or something." They glanced at Annie's beat up Converses.

"I'll try not to. Just 3 brothers makes you kinda sneaky." Annie shrugged. "But any way, Beckett needs the pictures of the body."

"Speaking of bodies, good job on the whole knocking into Castle." Lanie bumped Annie's shoulder.

"Spur of the moment." Then Annie leaned in, "Honestly, it was kinda sorta an accident."

"Lanie! We need you to run a print!" Esposito yelled. The sound echoed through the lab and caused Lanie and Annie to whip around and glared at them. "Hey Annie."

"Boy, why do you think you can come in here yelling and screaming?" With pursed lips and raised eyebrows, Lanie glared at him.

"What are you two gossiping about?" Ryan's head poked in.

"Should we tell them?" Annie looked to Lanie then to the guys.

"Yeah, they could prove to be of some use." Lanie nodded.

"First, Popo XYZ." Esposito's cheeks flushed red as he turned his back to them. "Secondly, we're working on a plan to get Beckett and Castle together."

"So you two in?" Lanie glared at them.

Ryan and Esposito glanced at each other, their faces mirroring each other's goofy grins. "We're in." They said in unison.

"Okay, I vote we do the elevator thing as soon as this case is over." Annie leaned against one of the empty autopsy tables.

"Elevator thing?" Ryan glanced at the two.

"Annie has this plan. Once Beckett and Castle are in the elevator, we're going to 'break' the elevator."

"Dude, genius." Esposito leaned in and gave Annie a high five.

"Okay, we'll fill you in later. What's this stuff you were screaming about?"

"We found a torn finger of a glove. Can you check for prints?" Esposito handed Lanie a bag containing the finger of a plastic glove.

"Sure. Annie, the pictures are on that table."

Lanie pulled the glove out of the evidence bag with a pair of tweezers. She stretched it out on a board. With a brush of the dark powder, fingerprints appeared on the glove. "Gotcha."

"Something you all want to share with the class?" Beckett's voice rang through the morgue.

"Beckett!" Ryan had actually jumped a little. Annie and Esposito looked at him. "Hi! Yeah, we found a print on a torn glove."

"Uhhum." Lanie raise her eyebrows.

"Correction, Lanie found the prints." Esposito said.

"Thank you. I'm running it right now."

"Great. So what's with the party in the morgue?" Beckett raised her eyebrows at the small group.

"I was here first." Annie offered with the air of someone trying to be helpful.

"So while your all down here, I'll show you what we have." Lanie walked over to the body. "Gun shot wound to the head. Clean through and through. Left a fair sized hole in the back of her head."

"Guess she had a bad hair day." Castle walked in.

"Understatement of the year." Annie muttered.

"You two, be nice. Dead body." Lanie waved her arm across the table.

"Any id?" Beckett asked rolling her eyes at Annie and Castle's antics.

"None so far. I'd try the missing persons data base." Lanie shrugged.

"Okay. Annie, Ryan, Espo. You guys go look at the missing persons matching her description. We'll look through Quentin's files for any reason why there would be an attack in his office." Beckett ordered. She and Castle left the morgue in a hurry, but the other three dawdled.

"Sweet, you can tell us more about your brilliant plan." Ryan grinned.

"You do know how long these searches take?"

Annie's eyes widened.

"I wish you the best of luck, Annie."

**I'm not sure about the ending but I'm tired so here it ends. Next chapter will be up tomorrow, well I guess today. :) **

**We hit double digits! YAY!**

**There's an opportunity for shout outs! 1. Harry Potter reference? 2. What color are Annie's eyes? It's briefly mentioned so see if you can catch it! Best of luck!**

**E**


	11. Chapter 11

**Shout out time! Eye color: MysteryGirl72, BeckettByNight, CastleFan1012. Congrats guys! The correct color was green! Yay! And for the Harry Potter reference goes to baughgirl! The answer was Quentin Jordan and his stutter, which was a reference to Professor Quirrell and the DADA book. Congratulations to everyone! **

**::::::::::::::::**

**Those Meddling Newbies**

**Chapter 11 **

"Ugggghhhh. How can there be so many missing persons matching our Vic's description?" Annie ran her hands through her hair.

Ryan, Esposito and Annie were reading through every missing persons file that was similar to the body in the morgue. Black hair, blue eyes, mid 20s to early 30s, average height, weight. Needless to say, there were some pretty big files.

"Would you rather help Castle and Beckett?" Ryan jerked his head towards Castle and Beckett, who were similarly drowning in paper.

"That's a tough one. Sitting with you two and looking at pictures or sitting with those two and looking at numbers." Annie leaned across the table and in a low whisper, "My highest math grade was like an B+."

"B+?" Esposito looked at her incredulously. "Dude my highest was like a B-." They looked at Ryan who was staring into space with a guilty look. "Bro, tell me you weren't…"

"Oh, he was." Annie grinned wickedly.

"Fine, I was in honors math. Happy?"

"Very." Esposito nodded happily. With a sigh, Ryan rolled his eyes.

They went back to sifting through the files. "Oh maybe… no." This was one of the random outbursts that would come every few minutes.

"This is so sad. This woman has been missing for 4 years." Annie showed them a file containing a picture of a young woman.

"Well, Lanie put time of death around 3 yesterday night." Esposito glanced over Annie shoulder.

"We're gonna grab lunch, what do you guys want?" Beckett and Castle were standing behind Annie, shoulders touching gently.

"What are you getting?" Ryan leaned back in his chair and laced his hands behind his head.

"Chinese." Castle put a hand on the back of Annie's chair, the back leaned back and back. "Castle." Beckett warned sharply, but it was too late. Annie literary flipped over the back of the chair and into Castle.

"Castle!" Annie whined. "That could've really hurt!" Beckett had a hand over her mouth, but her eyes were twinkling and the corners of her mouth were twitching.

"But I saved you." Castle protested. Annie gave him a Beckett worthy eye roll.

Esposito pulled Annie up and set her on the ground. Castle held up his hand for someone to grab. They all stared down at him. "Guys, a little help."

"Bro, you did that to yourself." Esposito shook his head with laughter.

"Beckett?" Castle pleaded.

"You can stand up can't you?" Beckett looked at him pointedly.

There was a mumble from Castle, and then he grabbed the edges of the desks and hoisted himself up.

"Castle say you're sorry." Beckett ordered.

"No, she fell on me."

"Castle…." Castle glared at Annie who was standing behind Beckett. He stuck his tongue out at her and she returned the favor. "This is ridiculous." Beckett raked her hands through her hair. "How old are you two?"

"They do say that you're half your age." Ryan said.

"So I'm like 12 and Castle's what 40?" Annie giggled.

"Oh aren't you clever." Castle narrowed his eyes.

"You wouldn't have this issue if you just apologized Castle." Becket laid her hands on her hip.

"Fine. Sorry. I'll just go get the food then." Castle turned on his heel and stalked off in a true Martha Rodgers fashion, only to turn back. "What do you guys want to eat?"

Castle jotted down their orders, then grabbed Beckett's elbow and drag her out with him.

"There's a new one. Beckett never goes with Castle." Ryan mused as they watched the pair disappear into the elevator.

"Oh, AnnaBanana, what's this genius plan of yours and Lanie's?" Esposito smirked at the nickname.

"You'll love it, Popo." Annie returned the smirk. Then her face turned serious. "Okay, so first we're going to break the elevator with them in it. But you guys already knew that. Then we're gonna start a prank war against them. But a lot of the pranks will put them in awkward positions."

Esposito nodded, "Do either of you two know how to disable an elevator?"

"Sadly, yes."

"And we get to help you with the pranks?" Ryan asked eagerly.

"Why not? I'm guessing Lanie won't want to get her hands to dirty. And she's kinda far."

Ryan and Esposito hi-fived excitedly. Both looked like kids who had just been given their favorite toy back.

"So is there a pot?" Annie asked.

"Hell yeah, there's been one since day one. You want in?" Ryan pushed his chair back forward.

"Maybe later." Annie tried to go back to sifting through the files, but Ryan and Esposito had other ideas. They were spouting off all sorts of prank ideas. She had been through 3 files in 30 minutes.

Annie glanced up and saw Beckett and Castle come in the elevator. "Guys." Annie hissed.

"What?"

"Hey guys, whatcha talking 'bout?" Beckett asked as she set her fresh coffee on her desk.

"What my title is." Annie said quickly, kicking Ryan under the table as he opened his mouth.

"And what did you guys come up with?" Beckett raised her eyebrow at Ryan, who was leaning over, rubbing furiously, face twisted in a scowl.

"Uh, err…" Esposito spluttered. "HD." He spat out.

"HD?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, Half-Detective." Esposito explained.

"Dude, that's brilliant." Castle reached over for a fist bump.

"You have no idea." Annie muttered, almost silently.

"What do you have to eat?" Ryan sat up, his nose in the air as the smell of Chinese food wafted towards him. "Oh is that Beef and Broccoli?" He moaned.

"Yes, Beef and Broccoli for… what did you call him before?" Castle dug his hand in the bag.

"Lucky." Annie grinned at Ryan whose face was turning red.

"Ah yes. Beef and Broccoli for Lucky." Castle handed Ryan his container and a fork. "MuShuGaiPan for Esposito, MuShu Pork for the lovely detective. My sesame chicken and finally Kung Pao Chicken for Banana." Castle distributed the cartons.

"Do you have chopsticks?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, you like eating with chopsticks?" Castle asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." Annie nodded. "Wo juede ni yinggai yong quaizi zhongcai, mei you cha shi."

"What did you just say?" Castle asked.

"I said, I think you should use chopsticks when eating Chinese food, not forks." Annie shrugged.

"That… was… so awesome! You speak Chinese!" Castle was almost screaming.

"I speak the basics."

"Why do you know Chinese?" Beckett asked.

"My mom was a linguistics professor so she was always teaching us things. And we moved everywhere with my dad so I picked up those too."

"You speak more then Chinese?" Ryan asked.

"A little bit of a lot." Annie said. "That's what my mom always said. But yeah, French, Spanish, German, some Russian, um…"

"Oh you and Beckett could talk together." Castle said excitedly.

"You speak Russian?" Annie tilted her head at Beckett.

"Semester in Kiev."

"Ah. Sweet. So can I have my chopsticks now?"

"Only if you say something in Chinese." Castle held the chopstick tauntingly in front of her.

"Uh… wo zhen xihuan nide yang." Annie said with a roll of her eyes.

"Here you go. What did you say?"

"I said, I really like your goat." Castle's eyes widened in amazement.

"I told you. Like a shiny new toy." Beckett leaned over to Annie. Castle followed her and stared at the file Annie had been looking at.

"I think I just found our Vic." Castle said, setting down his food and grabbing the file. "Jessica Shuster." He held up her picture to show them. It was a definite match to the body down in the morgue. "Reported missing this morning by her roommate."

"Let's get the roommate in here to identify her and answer some questions."

:::::::

"Roommate's name's Tasha Inz." Esposito led them to the room where Tasha was sitting.

Beckett walked in with Annie and Castle shadowing her. "Hi Tasha. I'm Detective Kate Beckett. We need your help id' ing a body."

"Is it Jess?" She asked.

"We think it might be." Beckett said solemnly. She pulled out a picture of the body in the morgue.

Tasha covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh my god. That's Jess. What happened to her? Is that a bullet wound? I watch a lot of CSI." She sent a flirty grin Castle's way. Beckett and Annie raised their eyebrows in unison.

"You're positive it's her?" Beckett looked at Tasha, not a tear shed or anything was rare and Tasha was showing very little emotion, even when shown the picture.

"Yes."

"Did she have a boyfriend?" Castle leaned in.

"Sure. Harry Turner."

"Thank you Tasha. We'll call you if we need anything else. Call me if you remember anything." Beckett handed Tasha her card as they stood up. An officer escorted Tasha out.

"She's lying." Annie said in a singsong voice.

"I know." Beckett, frustrated, walked back to the murder board. "Ryan, Esposito run down an Harry Turner. He's our Vic's boyfriend."

"On it boss." They said in unison.

"What did Jessica do for a living?" Castle mused as he settled down in his chair. "Maybe rival accountants. Oh I can just imagine it the blurb. 1 gun + 2 suspects= 3 dead."

"Jessica was a school teacher, second grade." Annie read from her file.

"Spies?" Castle offered, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Really Castle?" Beckett glanced at him.

"Hey! I don't see either of you two coming up with any ideas."

"Whoa, wait up there. Are you saying that we can just make up crazy theories without any evidence?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, 'cause that would be brilliant. Can we do that Beckett?" Annie tilted her head.

"Oh you two are so funny. I'm laughing on the inside." Castle narrowed his eyes and nodded.

"So what about the roommate?" Beckett grabbed Tasha's picture and pinned it up on the murder board.

"Maybe she wanted the apartment all to herself." Castle stood up and leaned against Beckett desk.

"My roommate is such a pain in the ass. She's loud, wakes up at 4:30 like clockwork, only eats organic stuff, and in a nutshell she's an eco freak. But the weirdest thing is she looks totally normal." Annie copied Castle's motions.

"All of my roommate's were normal. What about you Castle?"

"I've had 2. They're called wives." Castle said huffily.

"Nice." Annie nodded.

"Boss, Turner's here." Ryan yelled.

"Okay. Castle, you stay here. I want Annie to watch me with out you." Castle pouted like a child who was denied sugar.

"Fine."

Annie tentatively followed Beckett in to the room. Harry Turner was sitting on the couch ringing his hands furiously.

"Hello Mr. Turner. I'm Detective Beckett, this is Annie Wellington. We have a few questions about your girlfriend, Jessica." Beckett reached over and shook his hand gently.

"Is it true? Is she really dead?" His voice was shaky and low.

"Yes. I'm very sorry for your loss, Mr. Turner. Did she have any enemies?"

"No, no. Everyone loved her."

"Was she having any money problems?" Beckett pressed.

"No. Her job was fine."

"What about her family?"

"As, far as I know. She had a younger brother who lived with her parents in Oregon. I've never met them." He shrugged.

"Thank you for you time." Beckett stood up and reached for his hand again.

Annie stood up with Beckett and smiled at Turner. "Wait, Mr. Turner. Do you know a Quentin Jordan?"

"Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?"

"How do you know him?" Beckett asked.

"His office is a few doors down from me and my partner."

"Partner and I." Annie coughed-said.

"What?" Turner asked in confusion.

"Nothing. Did Jessica ever visit you at your office?" Beckett rolled her eyes at Annie.

"No… wait. Yeah she did once." Turner nodded. "Yeah, she visited once and she didn't get along with Julian O'Leary, my partner. They had a fight about something. I don't what about though."

"Thank you." Beckett shook his hand again.

Beckett led Annie out. "Good job on the office thing." Annie's face split into a wide grin.

"Thanks."

"Hey Ryan, get me all you can about Julian O'Leary." Beckett ordered as they entered the bullpen.

"Okay."

"Yo, Beckett, Shrimp. Jordan was having some financial troubles at home. It seems like his wife had some spending issues." Esposito walked over and handed a few sheets of paper with numbers and yellow highlights.

"So what if Quentin decided that he needed a new wife and had an affair with Jessica, who was around the building a lot. Then he gets cold feet and she doesn't like that, so he freaks and shoots her in the head." Castle presented with all the hand motions.

"You paint a pretty picture there, Castle, but I just don't see Quentin Stutter shooting someone in the head." Esposito pointed out.

"What about the boyfriends partner?" Annie added.

"Partner, like business partner or partner/partner?" Castle asked.

"Business." Beckett gave him a narrowed eyed glance. "Ryan's him down right now."

:::::::

An hour later, Julian O'Leary was twiddling his thumbs absent-mindedly and staring at his reflection in the mirror of the interrogation room.

All five stood behind the glass, watching the guy. "O'Leary has a 22 which matches the bullet found." Ryan handed Beckett his file.

"Okay. Annie with me." Beckett and Annie left the room. Castle frowned a bit.

"Ooooo, getting passed over for Shrimp." Ryan joked. Esposito elbowed him in the ribs.

"Don't worry about it bro. Beckett just wants to make sure that Annie's getting the full experience. Because unlike you, she actually needs it."

"Hey, I need it too. That's how I make my money!" Castle's protests were cut off by Beckett's voice.

"Mr. O'Leary, do you know why you're here?" Beckett settled down in the chair directly across. Annie grabbed the chair in the corner and moved it closer.

"To see two pretty girls?" He replied with a large grin.

Behind the glass, there were three glares.

"No. Do you know someone by the name of Jessica Shuster?" Beckett slid Jessica's picture across the table.

"Oh yeah. Harry's girl." He leaned back in his chair and crossed her arms.

"Harry said that you had an argument with her."

"Yeah, she came in and was accusing me of stealing from Harry."

"That must of really pissed you off." Beckett urged.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Why did she accuse you of stealing from Harry Turner?" Beckett asked.

"Well, you see Harry does the more social part of the operations. But I'm the business, smarts part of the it." He turned and leered at Annie. "You like smart fellows, hon'?"

"Smart, yes. Idiots, like you, no." She raised an eyebrow.

"Atta girl." Esposito cheered softly behind the glass.

"So what kind of business did you two run?" Beckett pressed.

"Photo business."

"Did not know you needed brains for a photo business." Annie leaned over to Beckett and whispered to her.

"What does that exactly mean?" She questioned.

"Harry takes the pictures and I deal with the money and clients. So yeah, I should get more money." Julian said angrily.

"So did you take money from your business?"

"Yeah, but I was basically running it. And I needed to pay off some debts." Julian shrugged non-chalantly.

"Whom were you paying your debts off to?"

"MY brother. He helped us start out; he said he needed the money right away so I started taking bits and pieces. But Jessica got so freaked out about it…"

"Was she looking into it?"

"I don't know."

"Where were you this morning from 12-2?"

"Um, what everyone else is doing sleeping."

"Can anyone verify that?"

"My wife." He said flatly.

"Do you know a Quentin Jordan?" Beckett asked with a sense of finality.

"I think his office is down the hall from ours. He seemed sort of weird."

"Thank you for your time." Beckett stood up abruptly, Annie quickly followed.

"The pleasure was all mine." He leered once more at both of them before cruising out the door.

Beckett and Annie left the bright white room and entered the darker bullpen. "I think he did it." Castle declared.

"And why's that?" Beckett demanded.

"10 bucks she rolls her eyes." Esposito muttered to Annie and Ryan.

"Fine, you're on." Ryan said.

"20 he says it's because he was looking at her funny." Annie said.

"Okay. But Castle would never say anything like that." Esposito nodded and Ryan grinned.

"So you're saying that you think he did it just because?" Beckett raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah."

"I can't charge him just cause you got a funny feeling, Castle."

"You could." Castle gestured wildly.

"Is that the only reason he bugged you Castle?" Annie leaned in.

"Hey!" Ryan muttered, glaring at her.

"It's 40 bucks, my friend." Annie replied cheekily.

"Yes, maybe." Beckett glared at him. "No. He was leering at you two weird." Castle swung his arms at Annie and Beckett.

"Boys?" Annie whispered.

"He was looking at you funny. Castle's right." Esposito quickly avoided her stare. Annie held out her hand. Esposito and Ryan sheepishly handed over their money.

Meanwhile, Beckett and Castle were quietly arguing in a tone that Ryan, Esposito and Annie couldn't hear. They all stared unbashfully.

"Detectives." The Captain was standing behind them. Everyone turned around; with hand in the cookie jar looks. "How is it going?"

"Um, not much right now. But we have a couple of suspects." Beckett said automatically.

"Good. Detective Beckett, a word in my office." The Captain led Beckett into his office.

"Captain?"

"I just wanted to check up on Annie. Do you like her?"

"Yes. She's been quite helpful." Beckett nodded.

"She did have some of the highest scores at the academy."

"When will she become a full detective?"

"It's unclear. She's highly qualified, but there aren't any openings. So unless someone retires, she'll be with you for a while. Is that a problem?"

"No, I was just curious. She's quite young."

"Think your records being threatened?" He joked. Beckett had a tight-lipped smile that barely reached her eyes.

"No."

"You may go now." The Captain waved a hand towards the door. Beckett quickly stood up and walked out stiffly.

"Did someone get into trouble?" Castle teased.

"No."

"What'd you talk about?" Castle asked quietly.

"Not telling you." Beckett grinned slightly.

"Please." Castle whined.

"Hey Castle, do we need some water?" Ryan asked. Beckett and Castle blushed as they realized how close they were.

"No, what is it Ryan?" Beckett asked exasperatedly.

"Um, Julian's brother, Jake O'Leary has some connections to the drug trade." Ryan reported.

"Great, have uniforms bring them in." Beckett nodded.

Ryan strolled back to Annie and Esposito were smirking.

Annie glanced at Beckett and Castle who were continuing their previous argument. "Oh, they're so cute at that age." Esposito and Ryan struggled to hold back their laughter.

**::::::::::**

**I would just like to say how amazed I am how far this story is. Over 50 reviews and 11 chapters, blowing my mind. **

**I'm sorry this is late, but it was Good Friday, I had stuff to do. No not really, I just couldn't find a good stopping point. So this is longer than most will be. I'm starting to get really excited about this story, so the plot will start to thicken more. Speaking of plot thickening, has anyone seen the promo for the new Psych? I may have just found my new favorite line: "The plot, unlike your hair, continues to thicken." I'm sure none of you care but oh well. **

**About the Chinese, I'm sorry if anyone thinks that's odd, but I was doing Chinese homework and we've just learned food. And I really like your goat is my go to sentence for when people demand that I say something in Chinese. **

**Also I apologize profusely for my pathetic attempt on a case. If anyone wants to help, I would love it! **

**And for the shout out questions: approximately how old is Annie? And an easy throw away question, favorite Castle episode? **

**As always, review. **

**E **


	12. Chapter 12

**Those Meddling Newbies**

**Chapter 12**

"Yo boss, O'Leary's in the box." Esposito called from observation, his head sticking out.

"Okay, thanks Espo." Beckett grabbed the file on Jake O'Leary and moved towards the room. Annie and Castle followed quickly behind her. "Hello. You must be Jake O'Leary?" Beckett's voice cut through the dry, cool air of the interrogation room. Castle and Beckett settled into their usual spots across from the suspect and Annie leaned against the wall next to the one-way mirror.

"Yep. That's me." He grinned cheekily.

"Detective Beckett. This is my partner, Rick Castle and my trainee, Annie Wellington." Beckett said, barely glancing up from the file. "You've had a lot jobs. Painter, carpenter, florist?"

"I like to… er… keep my options open."

"And how many of those jobs were covers for Sam Finley?" Beckett's question threw him off slightly and a shadow of panic flashed across his face before he composed himself.

"Sam Finley? Never heard of him."

"So the 20 calls to him in the past week were what? Solicitation?" Castle asked, eyebrows shooting up.

"Hey, I've got a business to run!" Jake spread his hands in an 'I'm completely innocent' way.

Annie made a short laugh that turned into a violent cough.

"So you're admitting that you know him?"

Jake stared at Beckett, "No. I never said that. I said I had a business to run. Not that I knew Sammy." Beckett's mouth twisted into a satisfied smirk and O'Leary's eyes widened as he caught his mistake.

"Sammy?" Beckett watched his pained face carefully, watching for a tell.

"Wha? No! I never…" The man spluttered. "You're putting words in my mouth. You're trying to make me say that I work with Sammy Finley!"

"Like you just did?" Annie supplied helpfully.

"Yeah," Then a second too late, his eyes widened.

Castle grinned like a schoolboy and popped out an, "Oopps!"

"Jacob O'Leary. You are under arrest for the murder of Jessica Shuster." Beckett pulled him up and was in the process of placing the cuffs on his wrist when Jake yelled,

"What? Jessica? Julian's girl? I didn't kill 'er! Sammy did!" Beckett pushed him back down into the chair.

"And where can we find Sammy?" Beckett glared at him.

Jake squirmed under Beckett's glare, his mouth opening and closing in indignation.

Annie pushed off the wall with a swing of her arms. "You do just realize that you just admitted to witnessing Jessica's murder?"

"What?" Seeing the two women's glares, he lowered his head and nodded, "Yeah. The crazy bitch was gonna find out about the money! And she said she knew where it was from, and that she was gonna call the cops!"

"Where is Sam Finley right now?" Beckett leaned forward, placing her hands on the table.

"I don't know. Maybe his house? Or maybe his girlfriend's house?"

"Her name?" Beckett said in a 'come on' kind of tone.

"Er… Bella Turner." O'Leary moved to stand up. "So can I go now?"

"No." Beckett pressed him back into the chair. "What part of under arrest is confusing you?"

"All of it. I didn't kill Jessica!"

"But you were there." Beckett motioned towards the door and a uniform walked in. "Take him down for processing." The officer nodded and led him out of the room. "Ryan, Espo, run down Sam Finley's current address and Bella Turner's." Beckett ordered as she left the interrogation room.

"On it boss!" They yelled as they leaned down over their computers.

Beckett's heels clicked through the half empty precinct. The soft thump of Annie's Converse's echoed behind her. Beckett walked into the break room and began fiddling with the espresso machine. The room was filled with angry beeps and clicks.

Annie raised her eyebrows as Beckett pounded her fist into it. She moved forward to help, but a larger figure beat her to it. "Beckett, what is it with you and this machine? It has done nothing to you." Castle began toy with all the knobs and buttons.

"I'm just gonna go now." Annie grinned and ducked out of the room. Esposito and Ryan were watching the pair with twin smirks.

"Mom and Dad making coffee?" Ryan asked.

"How domestic." Esposito leaned back in his chair, holding a pen loosely in his hand.

"So do you two have the addresses or are you just gonna keep talking?" Beckett sent a wry smirk their way and all three blushed slightly.

"Right." Esposito pushed his papers around, searching for the addresses.

"Here you go Beckett." Annie handed her the slip of paper with the addresses.

"Thanks Annie." Esposito and Ryan were slack jawed and glaring at the young woman in front of them. "Esposito, you should really clean up your desk." Beckett scooped her coat up from the back of her chair. "Are you three coming?"

There were murmurs of, "Yes, boss." And "Coming."

"Mr. Finley. Open up. NYPD!" Beckett pounded on the door. Ryan, Esposito and Annie stood ready, guns in hand. They had visited Bella Turner and been screamed at to get the hell away. After an extensive search, Sam was nowhere to found. Beckett pounded once more, "Finley open up or we're coming in."

Esposito moved forward and kicked into the door. It swung open dully.

The four who were armed moved forward quickly. Three men stood inside, with guns.

Esposito and Ryan were shouting wildly at the two men. Both looked like massive bears and were obviously hired help.

Finley ran towards another room in the dingy apartment. Beckett and Annie, quickly, ran after him, guns raised. "Finley put it down." Beckett ordered.

His hands slowly lowered in defeat. "Annie cuff him." Beckett ordered, her gun still trained on the massive man.

Annie walked forward slowly, tucking her gun away and pulling out her cuffs. In one fluid moment, Sam grabbed Annie and her gun. "Detective, unless you want your pretty little friend here dead, then you're going to let me walk out of here, through that window, and you're going to charge Jake with Jessica's murder." Beckett watched carefully as Sam held Annie's gun to her head.

"I can't let that happen, Sam. You know that." Pausing for a second before making her decision, Beckett yelled. "Ryan. Espo! Get in here."

"I'm sure they've already taken my friends down stairs." The smirk was evident in his tone. Beckett moved backward, looking for her two partners.

"Castle!"

"Move out of the way, Detective." Sam was literally lifting Annie up and using her as a shield. There was no angle for Beckett. "Come on little one." Annie struggled against his python arms, but it was no use. He merely squeezed harder. "Now I just going to walk out that door and there is nothing you can do about it." There was a loud thud and a crash and Finley dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Something I can do?"

"Thank god Castle." Beckett lowered her gun and sighed heavily. Castle grinned cheekily and bent over to help Annie up.

"God, Castle, stop making me fall over." Annie rolled her eyes as she found solid ground again. "But thanks." Annie winced slightly as she moved to pick up her weapon.

"Guys, what happened?" Ryan's flustered voice asked from outside the hall.

"Sam tried to take Annie captive so he could escape." Beckett called.

"Is she okay?" Annie smirked at Esposito's brotherly tone.

"She's fine. I'm so honored that you were that worried." Annie yelled back. "Why are you two still out there?"

"Well, he might still be in there."

"Yeah, Ryan, we're just chatting here for fun." Beckett said sarcastically.

"Ah! No! Don't shoot!" Castle shrieked.

Ryan and Esposito came bursting in. "Bro! Don't do that." Esposito glared at Castle, Beckett and Annie, who were all busting a gut.

Castle took a dramatic bow, "Thank you. Thank you. I would like to thank my mother and my daughter and my wonderful partner Detective Beckett- Ooffhh." The two guys punching him in each shoulder cut off Castle speech.

"Annie, are you alright?" Esposito asked again.

"Yep. All good. Just a little bruised. That dude's got massive arms. Can we just get this knucklehead?" She waved a lazy hand towards the groggy Sam Finley.

Peals of laughter rang through the empty precinct. All of them, including Lanie, were seated around Beckett's desk with a couple boxes of pizza.

"AnnaBanana, what's up with the wincing?" Castle asked.

"I'm not wincing." Annie said defensively.

"Girl…" Lanie warned. Annie reluctantly opened her button up shirt and lifted the tank top. An arm shaped bruised colored the skin over her ribs. "I'm gonna take her down to my office to patch her up."

"No. I don't need her to do anything." Annie protested.

"Javi, Kevin could you two pick her up and bring her down." Lanie ordered loftily. Esposito and Ryan moved forward and began lifting her up, Esposito carrying her shoulders, Ryan her legs. Lanie led them towards the elevator, regally holding her head high. Castle and Beckett were clutching at their sides.

Once in the elevator, Annie was set down by the two men and pulled to her feet. "What the hell was that about?"

"Dang. You were worse then Beckett after the first time she got hurt." Lanie laughed. Annie glared at her. "We're going down so we can plan." Annie visibly relaxed at Lanie statement. "But I'm still wrapping your ribs." Annie groaned, then perked up.

"Well, since I'm hurt, I shouldn't be walking around right?" She glanced at Lanie, who grinned back.

"Javi? Will you help Annie?" Lanie batted her eyes sweetly.

"Fine." Esposito grunted.

Ryan coughed and it sounded much like the word, "Whipped." Esposito glared at him.

Annie, despite her injured ribs, jumped energetically on to Esposito's back. He leaned forward, swaying slightly before steadying himself. "Come on, Popo! Yeehaw!" Esposito rolled his eyes and carried her out of the elevator.

He set Annie on an autopsy table while Lanie found some bandages.

Annie yawned before saying, "So what's the plan with the elevator?"

**So the plan is to update every MONDAY. I plan on alternating between this story and Down They Fall. I wasn't super sure about this chapter, but hopefully you guys will like it. **

**Review, please. **

**Okay… questions for this chapter: **

**Burn Notice reference (hint- one of the bad guys!)**

**Describe Castle in three words.**

**And finally, if you could please leave some critique about my writing style, it would be quite helpful. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Those Meddling Newbies **

**Chapter 13**

A crackle of a radio broke and a male voice, "She's headed for the elevator," Annie and Esposito shared a smirk before turning back to the task at hand. A box with wires protruding sat in front of them.

"10-4," Esposito replied into their radio. "Ryan, status on Castle?"

"He's in the elevator now," Ryan glanced up from his stealthy position on a bench by the elevator and found their writer monkey standing in the elevator, tapping his foot. "Creswell, update on her."

"She's walking in right now," Fred Creswell, a newer officer on the force, was their co-conspirator. He had been tasked with the job of tracking Beckett in to the elevator. "We are all good to go." Ryan watched as a tall, brunette walked in and Castle nodded to her. As the door slid shut, the woman turned and her face was revealed.

"Crap," Ryan hissed and fumbled for his radio. A pair of tall stilettos came into his line of sight.

"Something wrong, Ryan?"

"Er… uh… hey Beckett," Ryan spluttered, desperately attempting to hide the radio, praying that no one said anything. "What bring you down here?"

"Can't figure out the espresso machine and Castle's not here, so I'm grabbing a coffee. Want one?"

Ryan brought a pained smile to his lips and shook his head, "Nah. I'm fine."

"Okay," Beckett raised her eyebrows at the Irish man, who was looking almost constipated. "I'll be back in 10." As Beckett left the precinct, Ryan heaved a sigh. This was not good. In fact this was very bad.

Annie's voice crackled through the radio he held in his left hand, "Mission complete. Operation Caskett go."

"So Annie, tomorrow dinner?" Creswell asked hopefully.

"Sorry, I've got a boyfriend." Ryan chuckled lightly as he heard Esposito's grumblings in the back. The former special ops man was in his element. Which meant that everyone was excepted to be on task and serious. But Ryan's amusement was cut short as he remembered the debacle that was created.

"Er guys," he started. "We have a slight problem."

"And what's that bro?"

"Beckett wasn't in the elevator." Ryan blurted, unsure of their reactions, he added, "It was Creswell." He accused.

"Hey! I've never seen Beckett! I was doing it for a date with Wellington!" Creswell responded angrily.

"Dude!" Annie's muffled yell sounded broken and less angry.

"I'll meet you two upstairs." Ryan muttered before turning the knob of the radio to shut off all communications. Quickly shuffling away from his vantage point on the bench, he pressed the up button on the elevator. Ryan felt the sudden urge to smack himself on the head. Annie and Esposito had just broken the elevator.

Dragging his feet, he walked over to the staircase and began walking up the concrete stairs.

Annie was leaning lazily against the wall, while Esposito paced back and forth in front of her.

"Hey guys," Ryan watched the two carefully as they turned on him. "Blame Creswell, not me."

"Creswell's a jackass, so whatever." Annie shrugged. "We called the people who fix elevators. They'll be here in five."

Ryan's face paled as he took in the time. Annie and Esposito stared at him, obviously confused. "Dude, what's up?" Annie asked.

"Beckett's gonna be back any minute."

"Actually she's back right now." Annie pointed over his shoulder. Ryan spun around and found Beckett, a now cranky and irritated Beckett, who was pulling her phone away from her ear. "Hiya Beckett!" Annie waved happily.

"Where is Castle?" she demanded.

All three conspirators glanced at each other. Finally Esposito spoke, "He is in the elevator."

"I know that. He just called me saying that the elevator was broken." She brandished her phone around. "How on earth does the elevator break?"

"What is going on here, Detective?" Beckett turned on her heel and was glaring at the captain. He raised his eyebrows at her, which made her quickly soften her expression.

"The elevator is broken."

"I know. Annie informed me."

"And Castle's in there." Beckett ran a hand through her hair. Why does he always have to get him self into these situations? It was going to give her a heart attack one of these days.

"Ah," The captain nodded in understanding. "I'm sure we'll have him out of there in no time." His voice was calm, but until Castle was out Beckett was not going to relax.

Beckett closed her eyes and breathed slowly just like her therapist had advised. When she opened her eyes, the captain was gone. "Is anyone else in there?" Beckett asked to assess the situation.

"Um…well-" Ryan began uncertainly.

"We don't know. Aren't there cameras in the elevators?" Annie piped up, saving them from death by Ryan's big fat mouth. The older detective nodded slowly. "Then let's just get those up and running." The others nodded, warming to her plan.

"On it." Ryan was quick to leave the area. Esposito heaved a mental sigh of relief. Ryan's damn big mouth was going to ruin their plans.

"Detective Esposito?" A new voice asked. It belonged to a large, well built man with stick straight hair poking up around his head. "I'm Owen Tuft. I'm from the repair service. What's wrong with it?"

"Yes. I'm Esposito. We're not sure, it just stopped." Esposito shrugged.

"Okay. Do any of you know where the control box is?" Owen nodded and pulled out a note pad, jotting down something.

All three shook their heads, one truthfully, the other two lying through their teeth "I'll call help," Annie jogged over to her desk and dialed the number.

Meanwhile, Owen was looking Beckett up and down. To most he would be quite handsome, but to Kate Beckett he was not. He didn't have thick brown hair, warm blue eyes, a rapier wit and over 20 bestselling novels. "What's your name, sweetheart?" As he said this, a slight lisp was more pronounced.

Beckett had to restrain herself from pulling a face similar to the one that would be pulled at the sight of vomit or dog crap. "Detective Beckett."

"That it? Seems awfully short for someone like you."

To the well-trained ear, two low growls emitted from the two detectives but went unnoticed by Owen the repairman. Annie came bounding back, laces flying wildly as they slapped the hard floor of the predict. "They're sending a guy down. He'll show you up to the power box."

Owen nodded and picked up his toolbox, which was resting, by his feet. "Thank you Detective…?"

"Not Detective yet. Annie Wellington."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He smiled cheekily at the two females as he waited for the man from help services. Esposito shifted forward slightly, moving to a more defensive position. It seemed to be a subconscious decision.

"Beckett, we got eyes in." Ryan reported.

Beckett looked thoroughly relieved at an excuse to leave Owen. "Great. How are they?"

"You can see for yourself." The three still standing there smiled gratefully and walked over to Ryan's computer. Then Ryan turned to Owen; "There are two people in there. A man and a woman." Owen nodded.

Ryan ran over to join his team. "He's weird," he declared as he settled into his chair. "I think it's the way he talks."

"Why? 'Cause he's got a lisp." Annie asked.

"Wha? No! He just seems creepy."

"I'm with you bro." Esposito watched the blonde man warily.

"Guys!" Beckett yelled exasperatedly. "Remember that guy Castle? Our teammate? Who's stuck in the elevator." Ryan and Esposito looked down, heads ducked shamefully.

"So who's in the elevator with him?" Annie asked, trying to take the heat off the two guys.

"How should I know?" Beckett snapped irritably.

"You could text him," the younger woman suggested. Beckett hissed out a breath before pulling out her phone and typing the message. "Have you had any coffee today?"

Beckett shook her head, "No. Castle called when I was walking to the shop." Ryan and Esposito both looked horrified and aghast.

"Judging by Popo and Lucky's faces, we should get you some." Beckett swiveled to glare at the two men, who were looking away, whistling innocently. "Come on now. I too am not a huge fan of coffee people with out their morning coffee." Annie tugged on Beckett's elbow and she reluctantly rose from her chair and followed Annie into the break room.

Annie, minutes later, handed Beckett a cup of coffee. Closing her eyes as the heavenly scent rose with the steam, Beckett raised the cup to her lips and took a large swig. "Wow. Almost as good as Castle's."

"I knew a year working at a coffee shop would work out!" Annie grinned and walked over to the fridge to pull out a Coca-Cola. "Better now?"

"Yeah, thanks Annie." Beckett smiled at the younger woman, who reminded her of herself before her mother's death. Annie slumped into the chair next to Beckett, clumsily.

"Castle will be fine." Annie added reassuringly. "Wonder who the woman is…" Annie mused aloud. Her eyes darted to her boss so fast that Beckett didn't even notice. But that wasn't surprising; Beckett was off in some dream world. "You worried?"

"It's just… Castle… he always gets himself into these situations." Beckett sighed. "And there's nothing I can do." Beckett gripped the cup tightly, knuckles turning white. "At least when he does something dumb and someone's pointing a gun at him, I can do something! But this just involves sitting and waiting."

"Whenever my dad went away when I was younger, my brother's would tell me all these stories about themselves. Just so I would think less about missing him and more about teasing them. But now they almost regret it," Annie smiled cheekily, "'cause now I've got so much ammo on them."

"It must be nice," Annie turned her head to one side in confusion, "having such a big family."

"But also kinda irritating. They all want to help you and 3 older brothers is…let's just say tiring." Annie tipped back the red bottle and gulped down a large portion of it.

"My dad was bad about boys, I can't imagine what it was like with a military dad and 3 older brothers," Beckett smiled at the goofy look on Annie's face.

"You have no idea. Ian and Isaac were the worst. Indy was a little bit better them 'cause he was closer to me in age."

"I have to ask, why on earth did your parents name him Indiana?" Beckett asked, looking at Annie over her coffee cup.

"They ran out of 'I' names. And they really liked Indiana Jones." They shared a light laugh. "Feel better?"

Beckett nodded, "Yeah. Thanks Annie."

"Any time Beckett." Annie smiled softly at Beckett. "Any time. Now shall we go free Monkey?"

Beckett rolled her eyes, but stood up.

Ryan and Esposito were still huddled around Ryan computer and the monitor of Castle and the woman.

Beckett grabbed her phone and found a text from Castle, 'Woman's name is Jane Flowers'. "Guys, the girl's name in Jane Flowers."

There was a flurry of shushing sounds, as there was a rumbling, both in the elevator and out.

Once the noises had stopped, Jane Flowers spoke; her voice was high and sugary. Annie and Beckett were both fighting back gags. "So Rick, maybe you could meet me for dinner tonight?" Beckett rolled her eyes, "I have a friend who owns this quiet little bistro, and I could get us a table."

Annie was watching Beckett closely. The woman in question was holding tightly on to the desk, her face set in a concrete mold of uncaringness. Annie made a mental note to avoid playing poker with Beckett.

"Um… you know…." Castle spluttered.

"I know you're not married and I know that you're not dating any one," Castle opened his mouth, imitating a fish, "you are quite famous, you know."

"Ah… well… it's complicated." Castle managed. A flash of pain and sorrow crossed Beckett's face. Annie narrowed her eyes as Castle continued. "And no offense but you're not my type."

"How so?" All four were now flinching at the high pitch of her voice.

"Well…." Castle was saved by the elevator. It slowly rumbled back to life and began moving upward. They all broke out into laughter as they saw Castle stare up at the roof and press his hands together in prayer.

There was a reassuring ding as the elevator arrived on their floor. All four ran over to the elevator doors. Castle stumbled out as the door slid apart. He made a beeline for the group, but specifically Beckett. "Please never leave me in an elevator with someone like her again. Ever," he pleaded. Beckett grinned back at her… partner.

"I'll try not to."

"Thank you." Castle sighed heavily. "So why did it break?" Esposito and Annie were shifting uncomfortably in the background. Both were thinking, 'AW CRAP'. If Beckett or any one found out that they had broken the elevator, in a word it woufl be bad.

"Ah, Mr. Castle. I see you are back in one piece." The Captain patted him on the shoulder before continuing out.

"Detectives. Your elevator's all fixed." Owen's lisping voice startled all of the smiling detectives, trainee and writer.

"What was wrong with it?" Beckett asked. Annie and Esposito were all but cowering away from her.

Owen shrugged noncommittally, "Looks like it was chewed through. Probably mice."

Annie leaned over to Esposito and whispered, "I have the sudden urge to get a pet mouse." He grinned happily back.

"Thank you, Owen." Beckett said dismissivly. Owen frowned slightly, but got in the elevator anyways.

The team walked back to their cluster of desks. All were smiling happily.

"So bro," Esposito began grinning wickedly at the writer, "how was it with Ms. Flower?"

Castle paled and his face twisted as if recalling a dreaful memory, "I repeat always get me out of places like that! And never leave me in a small space with someone with that high of a voice." He suppressed a small shudder, "She was like a combination of my ex wives."

"Deep fried twinkie?" Ryan asked, raising his eyebrows.

Castle nodded, jerking his head wildly. "Yes. Deep fried twinkie!"

"I believe you owe me a coffee." Beckett muttered to Castle.

"Huh?" Castle mumbled back. Then he recalled the spill latte on the floor. "Oh, right." Then Castle's face broke into his crocodile grin, "But my dear detective, I do believe that you owe me about 357 coffees."

Beckett gave him her signature eyeroll, but obliged, "Fine. Come on Writer Boy. Let's go get you a coffee." The pair strolled to the elevator, oblivious to the grins that were following their backs.

Once the writer and his muse were encased in the elevator, Annie turned to the guys, "So… who's gonna tell Lanie?" Glances were exchanged quickly, before Annie yelled, "Nose goes." All three brought their hands up to their noses. "Popo!"

"What! No!"

"Bro, it makes sense. She's your chica."

Esposito groaned before digging out his phone, "Hey Lanie. So you know that elevator plan?"

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

**I know I said that I was going to only update on Mondays. But the plot bunnies decided to take this idea and beat me upside the head with it until it was written. I also just had to throw a wrench in their plans, just too much fun. **

**So these are the word to describe Castle from you wonderful readers: adorable, fun, loyal, oh, god **

**Hmmm… and for me: hilarious, idiot, always. Yes, Castle is being an idiot. **

**So for this chapter… describe Beckett in three words. **

**Review! **

**E**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello my dear readers. Sorry about being so far behind. Firstly, I got a concussion. Not fun, I most certainly do not recommend it. Then I had to make up finals from when I was out. Studying into summer, YAY! And now I have limited computer acess. I'm actually posting this from my iPhone. So there are my excuses. Now on with the story. **

* * *

><strong><strong>

**Those Meddling Newbies**

**Chapter 14**

Pens scraped against paper and periodical sighs sounded through the bustling bullpen. Beckett glanced up and her eyes flitted from the guys, who were supposedly doing paperwork, to Annie, who's nose had a smudge of ink as she leaned over, to Castle, who's eyes rose to meet her's in a smile.

Ryan groaned loudly as he flicked his wrist. There was a low moan of, "Ow." Esposito looked up at his partner and raised an eyebrow.

"Bro, stop moanin' and groanin'." Esposito snapped irritably.

"But my wrist hurts." He whined.

There was a sudden shout of, "Yes!" and a fist pump from Castle. Annie also rose from her paperwork.

Beckett raised her eyebrows at him, clearly asking for an explanation.

"I just unlocked level 3 on the Logo Quiz." He held up his phone for proof. A game with pages of mini icons glowed on the screen. "How goes the paperwork?" He smiled winningly at the glares he received. "Banana, you've a bit of ink on your nose." Castle brushed his nose, indicating a spot on his nose.

Annie hastily wiped the mark away with the back of her hand. Esposito and Ryan were chuckling softly in the background. "Shut it Popo."

Esposito's face fell at the nickname. He maturely stuck his tongue out at the younger detective.

Beckett stifled an eyeroll. "I didn't know I was running a preschool." They really were like 4 year olds sometimes, especially Castle.

"You're not running a preschool," Castle started, grinning broadly at her.

"No," Annie said dryly. "It's more like a day care." She nodded her head towards the guys who were throwing goldfish at each other. "Yep, definitely a daycare."

Once Castle noticed the fish fight, he was up from his chair and running over to join in.

"This is ridiculous." Beckett shook her head, obviously bemused.

"But oh so amusing." Annie said, lacing her hands behind her head.

The Captain emerged from his office, most likely from the sound of the commotion, and walked over sternly. The Hispanic and Irish detectives stopped midway through as they saw his tall figure, but Castle, unaware of what was going on, threw one more cracker, which hit the Captain squarely on the forehead.

Annie and Beckett were both holding back their laughter with their hands. Castle quickly adopted an innocent look, but the Captain's face was not red with anger, it was smiling jovially.

"Doing paperwork, are we?"

Ryan and Esposito nodded quickly and gave their robotic answers, "Yes sir. Of course."

"It's all right, I understand how boring it can be. Just try to keep the noise to a minimum." Giving them a last knowing smile, he pulled the door open and shut it quietly behind him.

Everyone heaved sighs of relief as the snap of the door echoed softly. Then Annie let out a low giggle, "Smooth guys."

Esposito and Ryan glared at her, but Castle was grinning right along with her. Even Beckett was smiling broadly.

"Gosh, Annie. You're distracting us." Esposito clutched a hand to his chest, "and we were working just fine before you came along." A shadow glanced over Annie's face that went unnoticed by the guys, but not by Beckett.

Annie turned back to her paperwork with a swish of her light brown ponytail. Beckett watched her newbie carefully before turning back to her own.

Castle fell back into his chair with a thud and pull a book out of one of the drawer's in Beckett's desk. She raised her eyebrows at her partner. Since when did he use her drawers?

"I need somewhere to put my stuff." Shrugging and rolling her eyes, Beckett turned back to her own mountain of paper.

2 reports later, Annie stood up and brought her own file over to Beckett. "Can you check it? I just want to make sure I'm doing it right." Beckett grabbed the file and quickly scanned it for any errors.

"Looks good." Beckett smiled up at Annie and was reaching the file back up to her, when it was snatched away by a large hand.

The offending hand belonged to Castle, who was flipping through Annie's report, his face completely intrigued. Four raised eyebrows later, Castle looked up, not at them, but at the book he had been reading. "Are right or left handed?"

Annie and Beckett were both staring at him in confusion. Annie spoke up, but was obviously confused, "Right."

Castle nodded and turned back to his book. "Hmmmm…. Very interesting."

Beckett was almost twitching with irritation. "Castle," she barked, "what are you doing?"

"Practicing."

The corners of Annie's mouth were twitching slightly at the exasperation etched across Beckett's face and the bliss and unknowing across Castle's.

"Practicing what?" Annie asked to prevent Beckett yelling at Castle.

Castle looked up, an innocent smile playing across his lips. "Oh, handwriting analysis." Both women stared at him with raised eyebrows, "For Nikki Heat."

"So why did you need to take Annie's report?"

"To analyze her handwriting." Castle said in a 'well duh' tone that was worthy of most teenagers.

"And what does it say?" Beckett asked with the air of coaxing a small child.

"Well, she's a righty and it slants to the left, so she rebellious. Your l's are open so you're spontaneous and relaxed. You print your s's, so you are," He ran his finger across a page in his book, "versatile. And you really need to work on writing a bit clearer." Castle finished, a smirk displayed proudly.

Annie stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed her file back from him. "My handwriting is just fine."

"Castle, stop harassing Annie. You can come help me copy these." Beckett raised a finger and crooked it in. Castle, a goofy grin on his lips, jumped up and followed her to the copy room.

Once they were inside, Annie scurried over to Ryan and Esposito. "You guys ready?" There were two, short, affirmative nods. "Let's do this." Ryan pulled out a bag filled with unknown contents and Esposito grabbed a piece of white, blank paper.

All three-trouble makers were slinking over to Beckett's desk when the captain walked out of his office, briefcase in hand. After a slight deer in the headlights moment, they all relaxed, but hastily grabbed some files from Beckett's desk to cover their tracks.

"Where is Detective Beckett?" He asked, a knowing tone leaking into his voice.

The trio took a moment to recover from the initial shock. Ryan did not speak but jerked a thumb towards the copy room. The Captain raised an eyebrow at Ryan's feeble attempt at charades.

"She's in the copy room." Esposito spat out in a hurry.

"Alright, I'll just stop there on my way out."

"If you don't mind me asking, where are you going?" Annie asked.

"There is a week long conference for police captains this week. And I need to tell Detective Beckett that she is bring left in charge." Giving them one last nod, he walked to the copy room and repeated what he had just told them.

"Is it just me or did we pick the perfect week for this?" Annie grinned maniacally.

Then there were yells from the copy room along the lines of, "Castle! No. Do not press that button!"

"Go, go, go." Esposito motioned to Beckett's desk. The contents of the bag were quickly dumped in a drawer of Beckett's desk and Annie scrawled a note on the paper in big, bold printed letter. She shoved under the contents of the bags. Satisfied with their work, they walked back to their desks and buckled down on their paperwork.

Beckett and Castle appeared moments later, Beckett with a mildly amused expression, Castle with one of mild embarrassment.

"So you're in charge for the week?" Annie asked as Beckett settled down in chair.

"I guess so. I don't have to do much." She shrugged.

"It's gonna be totally awesome!" Castle clapped his hands together much like an overjoyed 6-year old. Beckett gave him the usual roll of her eyes before turning back to her own mountains.

Every so often, Annie, Ryan or Esposito would look up at Beckett, hoping she would open the drawer.

Finally, 10 minutes later, though it felt like 10 hours, Beckett pulled open the drawer and raised an eyebrow. "Castle," he leaned over from his chair and let out an unearthly shriek. Limbs flailing wildly, he looked down again and jumped a foot in the air only to land on Beckett's chair and send both of them toppling to the ground.

Hands covering their sniggers, the trio watched in rapt interest and entertainment.

Castle had his hands on either side of Beckett's head, hovering over her. Both were breathing heavily, chests rising and falling rapidly. "I really don't like spiders."

"Castle are you gonna get up?" Beckett asked, arching her eyebrows. She couldn't move without bumping into Castle and she was trying desperately not to.

"What?" Castle mumbled, "Oh yeah. Sorry." Pushing himself up with his arms, Beckett noticed how strong he actually was. Muscles rippled around her and he was up in next to no time. Always the gentleman, Castle offered a hand to Beckett. She took it sheepishly and was back on her feet.

Annie cleared her throat loudly. Castle and Beckett were suddenly aware of their surroundings and took a step away from each other.

"I'm just… uh… gonna…" Castle stuttered, "Beckett, you want another coffee? 'Course you do. I'll go make you one." He shuffled away, head ducked down.

Beckett slumped down in her chair and peered into the drawer again. A pile of plastic, yet realistic black spiders lay inside. Shaking her head at Castle's antic, she noticed a sheet of paper that had gone unquestioned during the commotion. With a brush of her hand the toys fell away, revealing a note at the bottom of her drawer.

It read: 'Let it begin. First team to give loses.' It was signed, 'Look up.'

Beckett glanced up and found 3 smiling faces, Annie, Esposito's and Ryan's.

Raising her eyebrows, watching them carefully, Annie stepped forward. "This was our invitation to you to join our prank war."

Beckett opened her mouth to respond, but Castle beat her to it. Eagerly, he said, "We're in. You're so going down."

Beckett's famous eyeroll was betrayed by her equally famous smirk. "Fine. We're in. And you three won't even know what hit you."

"Ah, but now we know one of Castle's weaknesses, spiders. And you know none of ours." Annie said confidently.

"Sure, you know one of Castle's but none of mine. And you're forgetting that I've worked with those two for over 5 years."

Annie looked slightly crestfallen, but continued, "Rules are: no physical harm; no public humiliation, as in on TV, news or Internet; no stealing permanently, and yeah, that's it. Any questions?"

Castle raised his hand and asked. "What are the teams?"

"Me, Annie and Ryan, and occasionally Lanie, if she has time. And you two." Esposito smirked at the almost, would-be couple.

Beckett snorted lightly. "That's fair."

Castle pressed a hand to his chest, "Ye of little faith, I happen to be amazing at pranks. You're doubt is wounding me, Detective."

Beckett rolled her eyes irritably, "More like your ego is wounded." She scoffed.

Castle pouted like he was a 2-year old who had been denied candy.

"Oooohhhh, burn bro." Esposito and Ryan were both sporting matching smirks. Both doing Castle's signature move 'feed the birds'. Castle frowned darkly.

"Hey! That's my thing!" Castle said indignantly. "What's next? Maybe I'll start to roll my eyes like Beckett does." Cue said eyeroll.

"Oh come on Castle. Get over it." Beckett snapped. Castle's lower lip was sticking out ridiculously far now. "Castle," Beckett warned. Castle immediately straightened up, face no longer mopy, but alert and almost smiling. "So when should we start?"

Their opposition glanced at each other and shared a nod, "Since we got a head start," Annie smiled innocently at them, "it starts today." Castle's jaw dropped.

"Wha?" He spluttered. "No, not fair."

"So are you saying you want to back out, bro?" Ryan grinned wickedly at his boss and her partner.

Castle began to nod before Beckett's elbow collided into his ribs.

"No. We aren't backing out." Beckett declared. "We start today." Sticking a hand out for someone to shake to seal the deal, she glanced back at Castle who had a notepad in his hand and was scribbling on it. Beckett, slightly surprised, whipped back around at the feeling of a soft, small hand gripping her's strongly.

"It's a deal." Annie said, thoughts of pranks already whirring through her head.

"Beckett, I have to go get some things." Castle said as he grabbed his coat.

"What things?" Beckett hissed.

"I'll show you later. I don't want them," he jerked a thumb at the others who were huddled around Ryan and Esposito's desks, "to find out."

After a slight eye argument, Beckett nodded and Castle ran towards the elevator before taking a sharp detour to the stairs.

It had been a week since the elevator incident, but Castle was still wary of the giant metal box.

Castle returned an hour later with 5 or 6 bags balanced in his hands. Upon hearing the commotion Beckett looked up from her tedious paperwork.

"Beckett," he whispered loudly, "let's take this to the break room." Annie, Ryan and Esposito all looked, surprised, at them Beckett nodded and grabbed a few of the bags.

"What do you think they're doing?" Ryan hissed to his co-conspirators.

"No clue." Annie whispered, returning to paperwork with a sigh. "I would just be wary around them."

Esposito made a slight scoffing sound in the back of his throat. "I'm not worried."

"I dunno, bro." Ryan sounded scared and frightened, and in his mind for good reason. Beckett and Castle together pranking them was a perfectly good reason to run.

"Dude, if you're too scared, then I partnering up with Banana over there." He jerked a finger towards the younger woman, who raised an eyebrow in response.

Castle and Beckett had been in the break room for about an hour before walking out. They were immediately met by three inquiring looks.

Throughout that hour, Ryan had been ringing his hand anxiously, Esposito had teased him for it and Annie had almost met Beckett's daily average for irritated eye rolls and raised eyebrows.

"I'm gonna grab a coffee." Ryan stood up quickly, stretching his arms out. Cracking his wrists before turning to the rest of the team, he asked. "Any one want some?" There was a chorus of nos.

Castle shot a knowing, smug look at Beckett. There was the smallest trace of an eye roll, but it was more amused than irritated.

Esposito and Annie were too engrossed in their paperwork to notice Castle slyly standing up and sneaking towards the bathrooms. Nor did they notice Beckett doing the same.

Ryan calmly stirred his coffee and sighed as the caffeine hit his lips. Out of the corner of his eye, something twitched. A flash of green and the telltale crinkle of paper. Ryan cautiously set his coffee down on the counter and edged towards the paper. As he inched nearer he could make out the numbers 5 and 0.

"A 50! Dang!" He muttered.

As he lunged forward it blew backwards. Ryan glanced over his shoulder, checking to make sure no one was watching, and then continued chasing the elusive bill.

The vent was blowing the bill towards the unoccupied conference room, or so he thought.

The bill idled in the door. Ryan grinned and darted forward. His fingers clutched the paper and a wild smile appeared. But a sudden cloud of noxious gas ruined his happiness. Ryan staggered back, shouting and gagging.

Esposito and Annie's heads shot up at the outburst. A cloud of off white smoke surrounded Ryan. They could make out the shadow of his figure in the cloud.

"Gotcha!" Castle's voice echoed through the quiet bullpen.

Most people had left, but Beckett's team had stayed. There was the skeleton crew tactfully ignoring commotion.

Annie and Esposito rushed over and instantly held their shirts over their noses to block the stench.

Beckett and Castle appeared, laughing through their shirts. Everyone carefully avoided the floating cloud of stench.

Ryan tripped out of the cloud, still gagging. Everyone scurried away from him.

"What the hell!" He coughed wildly.

Esposito moved his light blue collared shirt away from his nose and sniffed delicately. "Axe bomb?" He asked, looking at Castle and Beckett for confirmation.

"Oh yeah," Castle nodded, obviously proud with himself.

Ryan's nose appeared to be permanently scrunched up in fear of the wretched smell of Axe. HE began walking towards the others, but they all ran away.

"Oh no, dude. You reek." Esposito waved a hand in front of his face to illustrate his point.

"And how it is done, that is, my young padawans, hmmmm." Castle said in a gravely Yoda voice.

Annie lost it at this point and was struggling to keep her shirt held up to her nose through her laughter.

Ryan adopted a wounded look.

Beckett finally took pity on Ryan and said, "Ryan, go take a shower in the locker rooms and change. Don't forget, we're still on duty."

He nodded eagerly and began running towards the men's locker room.

Everyone else retreated to their desks, hurrying away from the horrible smell emanating from the room. Annie was still giggling quietly as she sat down.

The 3 remaining cops returned to their paperwork. As the clock ticked lethargically forward, Annie's head tipped into her hand and her eyelids drooped down. Esposito and Beckett's pens continued to trace across the paper.

"Wait! What are we going to do about the smell?" Annie yelled, her head shooting up.

"The what?" Esposito asked, also moving up from his desk.

"The smell, you know the Axe. Everyone's gonna smell it." Annie was so worried it was comical.

Castle and Esposito were both laughing deeply. But Beckett nodded, "Yeah, we should probably do something about it. People will ask questions. Do you have any perfume or air freshener?"

"Err," Annie rummaged through a drawer and nodded, "Yes, I have some Jo Malone."

"Okay. Let's try to spray some of it around the axe to cover it up." Beckett had a bottle of her usual perfume clutched in her hand.

"Both of you keep perfume in your desks?"

"Yes, Popo. It's to keep away how bad you smell." Annie shot back before following Beckett. Esposito discreetly sniffed his underarms. Noticing this, Castle's laughter was renewed.

Beckett and Annie set to the daunting task of masking the heavy smell of Axe. The air was soon filled with a delicate mix of cherries, wild bluebell and grapefruit. The soft feminine scents cut through the dense air.

They grinned happily at each other.

"Well, that's all taken care of." Annie said as she slumped into her chair. "Is anyone else tired?"

"Eh, you get used to it." Esposito said helpfully.

"Caffeine helps, a lot." Beckett added.

Castle leaned towards Annie and conspiratorially stage whispered, "She practically lives off of coffee." His words were met by a hard smack to the arm.

Annie wrinkled her face in dislike, "I'll stick to Coca-cola." Lifting her arms high above her head, Annie stood up and made her way towards the break room. Returning minutes later with the bright red bottle, she muttered, "Weeellll, this is exciting."

As each person watched the clock tick slowly from 9:59 to 10:00, Ryan bounded back in, his hair in wild disarray, and a lingering scent of Axe about him.

Raising his nose like a hunting dog, Ryan commented, "Who has the Jo Malone bluebell and grapefruit?" His comment was met back 2 surprised looks and 2 disgusted.

"Bro, hand over your man card." Esposito demanded instantly, taking a step towards his partner, before jumping back. "You still smell nasty bro."

"What? I'm not giving you my man card. No way bro." Protested Ryan.

"Beckett. Mmmhhmm. Uh huh. We'll be there in 10. Thanks."

"Dude. You can identify perfumes. That's reason enough." Esposito insisted.

Ryan opened his mouth, but Beckett quickly intervened. "We got a body. Come on." She handed a piece of paper with an address scrawled on it.

"Do I have to ride in a car with him?" Esposito whined, puppy dog eyes in full power.

"Yes," Beckett said sternly. "Annie, come with us. Leave those two to sort out their issues."

Castle eased Beckett into her coat. Annie sent a knowing smirk to the two boys as she pulled on a leather jacket over her hoodie. As Annie trailed behind the two older people, Ryan yelled, "Can I at least have the 50 bucks?"

* * *

><p><strong>Okay guys, that's chapter 14. Hope you liked it. Now I need your opinions on the story direction. First off, I'm thinking of beginning to work in plots of the episodes with my own spin. And secondly, I want to create more of an Annie subplot. <strong>

**So leave a review. I'll love you more if you do! Even if you don't, I'll still love you, just less. So moral of the story REVEIW!**

**E**


	15. Chapter 15

Hello my dear wonderful readers who have stuck with this, despite the fact that you should all want to pelt me with rotten fruit.

I have decided to rework this story and post it under my new account. It will still be called Those Meddling Newbies, but the account is Caught Ink Handed.

I'm sorry for being a terrible updater and everything.

Also, something's in the story will be the same as this version, and some will be different.

E


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